Calgary on track to lift water restrictions this weekend as crews start filling feeder main

City officials say Calgary is still on track to lift water restrictions this weekend as they start filling the feeder main that has been under repair in some form for most of the summer.

In an update Tuesday, the city’s Director of Capital Priorities and Investment Francois Bouchart says there is a significant amount of pipe to refill along the Bearspaw South feeder main and the process is expected to take three days and 22 million litres of water.

“Over the next few days you’ll notice that our water demand will increase by about 7 million litres per day,” he said. “This will not impact the amount of potable water for customers.”

Bouchart says the water being used to refill the pipe comes from the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant and is over and above what is being provided to the rest of the water distribution system.

Once the feeder main is filled, the city will perform testing to ensure the safety and quality of the water. Bouchart says the testing step will take around 24 hours.

“When we have confirmed that the water is safe, we will move into stabilizing the system, including opening valves to reconnect the feeder main to the rest of the water distribution network,” Bouchart says.

He says the city remains on track to lift Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions by this weekend, so long as the other steps go according to plan.

Water use was up slightly Monday to 492 million litres, slightly above the threshold set by the city, but still in the yellow zone.

Stage 4 water restrictions were reintroduced on Aug. 26 to make way for repairs to the feeder main, which followed a critical break that happened on June 5. The city initially said they expected repairs to be complete by Sep. 23.

Most of the roads around the repair sites, including 16 Avenue NW and section of 33 Avenue NW, have reopened in recent days.