Calgary brewery prepares for next round of water restrictions

Calgary is ramping up water restrictions next week and a local brewery is getting creative on their ways to cut back on water use.

Water restrictions are set to return to Stage 4 on Aug. 26, after the city found more spots in need of repairs along the Bearspaw South feeder main, which first ruptured in early June.

The changes means no outdoor potable water for residents, and a 25 per cent reduction for businesses until the repair work is finished near the end of September.

Andrew Bullied is the founder of Annex Ale Project and says the brewery will aim to cut their water usage by 36 per cent.

He says the Alberta Brewing Association provided a set of guidelines during the last round of Stage 4 restrictions that allowed Annex to take their usage from 5 1/2 litres of water/litre of beer to 3 1/2 litres of water/litre of beer.

The business says the cleaning and sanitation process for brewing takes up the most amount of water. The last time voluntary indoor water restrictions were in place they were able to reduce their water consumption by collecting rinse water throughout their cleaning process

“When we use that rinse water later in the process for other rinses, or make up water for detergents and things like that,” Bullied says. “We even catch water coming off canning lines from the canning rinsing and pump back into the tank so we can use later.”

It’s a strategy Annex hopes to use again, and they think it should be even easier this time.

“We are ready to go,” says Bullied. “Fortunately, we don’t have stampede coming down the pipe now so we don’t have to brew quite as much beer as we did in June.”

Residents will also be asked to curb their indoor water usage during the time the feeder main is turned off. The city is urging Calgarians to limit showers to three minutes, skip flushes when they can, and only wash full loads of dishes and laundry.

Work has already kicked off in the northwest ahead of the return to restrictions next week. The city is actively working with Bowness businesses and residents to ensure everyone is well-informed and workers are aware of special needs.

A pop-up information session will be available for community members in Bowness on Friday. No water service disruptions are expected for Bowness residents, including boil water advisories.

Francois Bouchart , the city’s Director of Capital Priorities & Investment, says early work is underway along 33 Avenue NW. He says crews have already started sawing into pavement at work sites between 87 and 85 streets.

Next week, repair work on the feeder main will begin around Shouldice Park.