Calgarians living in epicentre of latest watermain break say city is leaving them in the dark

Many Calgarians living near the site of the latest watermain break say they aren’t getting information from the city on activity related to ongoing repairs.

And when they reach out, they are left without answers.

Seeing ripped up roads, traffic diversions, city water trucks all about and machines digging in the dirt and very little, if any details – are leaving many stressed about their water quality and supply.

Zoë Decker, communications coordinator with the Bowness Community Association, says they share what they can with residents as soon as possible. 

But she concedes they don’t have many answers, either.

“I would say it is a little bit like hit or miss, sometimes we do receive some communications from the City, like a lot of times I see it on social media that there’s some things going on with the watermain break through the City socials and I’ll share it to let the community know that they’re going to be, like, digging up along 33rd by Woods Homes or there are locations where residents can go to get water because their water is going to be shut off,” she says. “I’m definitely empathetic, I’m sure that the city is super busy and kind of in over their heads a little bit with everything that’s going on.”

Sometimes questions are about things that are more annoying than anything, like road closures. Other times, it’s very real concerns. 

Decker says a colleague had workers right outside her house and she isn’t really sure why. Escalating her concerns is the possibility a major pipe that runs directly beneath the houses, including her own.

“She’s kind of worried and hasn’t really gotten a lot of answers from the city about the specific pipe that’s underneath [her street.]. I know the city put out a map kind of detailing where the pipes are and she was saying that the map isn’t really super detailed,” she says. “I’m sure it’s in the road, but she’s been trying to get answers about [whether] the pipe is under her house — ‘Do I need to be worried about if there is a break then like is my house going to get flooded or what’s going to happen?’” 

Claudia Hudspeth lives near Bowness Park where there is a lot of activity. 

“Just two nights ago I was putting my son to bed and the whole house was shaking and I went out and there was a digger trying to get through ice just two doors down at 10 p.m.,” she said. “The folks on the site typically aren’t in a position to give you a lot of information.”

There was nothing on the city’s website, so she called 311. 

Instead of an explanation, Hudspeth was told she’d hear back from the water department in a few days — she’s still waiting.

“It’s like it’s not even happening,” she scoffs.” The issue is that we as a resident, we have to go out and seek the information. It doesn’t flow to us naturally. like nobody’s dropping off a brochure and stopping by our house.”

Work related to water infrastructure is nothing new for her part of town — residents often driving by digs, dodging sink holes and putting up with road closures.

But since the latest massive watermain break in late December there is lots more activity.

“Obviously, with the water main break, Bowness was deeply affected because our water was shut off from the main feeder. And then what we had coming to the pipes was brown water and contaminated water,” Hudspeth says. “We had a boil water advisory. It took some time for the information to flow, I would say, to the community that they had to boil their water. And there wasn’t good communication to many older folks or support for many older folks who couldn’t seek alternative water sources. So, I think that was problematic.” 

Rather than getting better, communication has only gotten worse.

“It’s frustrating just generally because I always worry and you often see on this Bowness Facebook page that people are saying, ‘Oh, my water ran brown. Is anyone getting brown water?’ Like, I really worry a little bit about it, no, I worry a lot about the quality of our water and the consistency of our water,” Hudspeth said.

“When the break happened at the end of December there… I’m filling up all my bathtubs in the house, right. As a Bowness resident that’s that’s how you respond, because, you know, you’re not going to get proactive information and, you know, you just have to fend for yourself.”

Decker says the lack of answers leaves many looking everywhere not sure if information they find is fact or fiction.

“It is really hard because if you don’t really know where to go to get the answers that you need then it’s just very confusing. We’ll end up getting calls and we don’t really have more answers than the average resident does,” she says. “On top of that, I think a lot of people are kind of in this almost like crisis fatigue where it’s just kind of one crisis after another and when you do go to social media to seek those answers then you’re not always sure about what is fact and what’s rumor and that can kind of really like stir things up as well.

“I think you can kind of feel it in the air that people are stressed and they kind of just want answers.”

In a statement Mayor Jeromy Farkas says life changed for Calgarians on Dec 30, 2025 when the South Bearspaw Feedermain broke. 

He says work is being done as quickly as possible to replace the entire pipe which is responsible for 60 per cent of Calgary’s water.

The city’s water infrastructure team, in a statement, says plans to ramp up communication with Calgarians are coming soon.

“We understand and hear the concerns of those in the areas that are directly impacted by this prep work as we develop plans for these critical projects to support the health and safety of all Calgarians. Plans are moving forward rapidly due to the urgent nature of this work, and we are doing our best to get information out to the community as it becomes available. We are committed to enhancing our outreach as we gain a better understanding of upcoming impacts through these developing projects.”

Grateful for Calgarians’ patience, they add there will be more mail drops with updates, construction notices, email newsletters and info sessions in the coming days and weeks.

The city says anyone with questions can reach out to CBR@calgary.ca where inquiries will be triaged and responded to. 

You can also monitor project updates at Calgary.ca/BSFMproject.