Calgary officials say water main repairs entering final stages

Calgary officials say repairs to the city's feeder water main are entering the final stages.

In a regular livestream update Saturday afternoon, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the backfilling of the feeder main work sites was completed on Friday night, and flushing, or pushing water through the repaired line, is expected to be finished soon.

"This means we are approaching the final steps of restoring citywide water very soon," said Gondek.

"This is great news for all of us."

Once flushing the pipe is complete, water samples will be sent to Alberta Health Services for analysis, said Gondek, a process which could take about a day. 

If testing proves the water is clean and safe to drink, the city will begin stabilizing the pipe, which involves slowly easing the feeder main back into regular use. 

Gondek said preliminary water testing looks encouraging. 

The City of Calgary's general manager of infrastructure services Michael Thompson stressed that while crews are nearing the finish line, they are not yet out of the woods. 

"[Stabilization] will create pressure changes that could cause some issues to the pipe and throughout our water network," he said.

"We're proceeding with caution and care."

Earlier on Saturday morning, Gondek said Calgarians had heeded her urgent call to slash their water consumption, bringing usage levels to a sustainable 460 million litres on Friday. 

The mayor and city officials said the water usage a day earlier had increased to its highest level since the crisis began, spiking to 500 million litres on Thursday. 

That's a level that Calgary emergency management agency Chief Sue Henry said put the city in a "vulnerable state."

"Thank you for answering our call to action," said Henry on Saturday afternoon.

"While we are hopeful that the finish line is not far off, we still need you to continue to reduce your indoor water usage."

Review framework to be presented at council this week

Henry added that 16th Avenue N.W. was now fully re-opened in both directions, but that parts of the Bow River Pathway remain closed.

The parking lot at Point McKay, north of Edworthy Park and the river, near Bowness Road, is closed to the public, to allow crews to flush the feeder main. 

Francois Bouchart, the city's director of capital priorities and investment, said flushing has involved pushing large amounts of dechlorinated water from the pipe into the Bow River, and that crews were working with support from the provincial department of  Environment and Protected Areas.

Gondek also updated the status of the independent third-party review into the water main break that was announced by the city earlier in June. She said the city's chief administrative officer David Duckworth will present an initial framework to city council on Wednesday. 

"I know that, like me, many of you have questions about what happened to the feeder main in the first place," she said.

"These are the same questions that are also being posed by Premier Smith and her government because they want to have a better handle on our situation so they can also translate that into lessons for other municipalities." 

Gondek added the scope of the review will include what happened to the pipe, what happened during the city's response, and how Calgarians were kept informed during the repair and restoration work.