Calgary’s outdoor water restrictions expected to end on Sunday

Calgary’s outdoor water restrictions are expected to end on Sunday as crews prepare to move on from refilling the feeder main to testing water quality.

In an update Thursday afternoon, the city’s director of capital priorities and investments Francois Bouchart says the process of filling the Bearspaw South feeder main should be complete by the end of the day.

Once the filling is complete, the city will being testing water quality to ensure it meets drinking water standards, a process that Bouchart says will take around 24 hours.

The next step will be to stabilize the system by turning on the pumps at the Bearspaw Water Treatment plant and slowly opening valves to reconnect the pipe to the system.

The city will then be ready to lift all water restrictions so long as no issues come up during the testing and stabilizing stages.

“We expect this will happen sometime on Sunday,” says Bouchart. ‘We can all see the finish line, and we will get there together.”

A medical officer of health from Alberta Health Services (AHS) was on hand during the Thursday update, saying a plan is in place if the water quality is deemed unsafe at any point.

“Preliminary test results during the construction phase of the repairs have returned and affirmed there was no infiltration, and no seepage, that entered into the pipe during repair work,” said Dr. Franco Rizzuti with AHS.

He says multiple water samples are now being collected during the filling process and will undergo safety and bacterial tests in a lab.

“The feeder main will return to service, only if these water quality tests meet or exceed the thresholds determined by AHS, EPA and the city,” Rizzuti says. “Should test results not meet these thresholds, there will be turnover of the line and additional testing would be undertaken.”

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.

The city says its non-potable water locations will remain open until Stage 4 restrictions end.

Calgary used 489 million litres of water on Wednesday, which was actually below the target threshold of 485 million litres when taking into consideration around 7 million litres of water used to fill the feeder main.

Crews are now in the final stages of construction after spending the last several weeks fixing problem spots along the pipe in northwest Calgary.

Paving is ongoing on 33 Avenue NW, and Bouchart says the section of the road west of 83 Street NW will open mid-to-late next week. The section east of 83 Street has already reopened.

There will continue to be some intermittent lane closures along 16 Avenue NW to complete concrete curb work.

The city says a second phase of repairs along the Bearspaw South feeder main will happen in October and November along the Bow River Pathway near 26 Street NW and Parkdale Boulevard NW. No restrictions are expected during these repairs.