City of Calgary officials will update residents today at 2 p.m. on the latest developments with repairs to its water feeder main that ruptured on June 5.
The main break led to outdoor water restrictions, with the city also urging residents and businesses to cut back on their own use to help ensure an adequate water supply.
Earlier on Monday, Mayor Jyoti Gondek, speaking during her morning update, pointed to a large condominium fire late Sunday as the most recent example of the importance of conservation.
“Thankfully, there are no injuries being reported and crews were able to manage the blaze,” she said Monday morning.
“Our ability to use less water for our daily routine has really resulted in folks at the Calgary Fire Department being able to access water when they need it for critical, critical situations like the one last night.”
Gondek added more patience will be needed once all the fixes are in place, with crews still aiming for a target date of July 5.
“Even after crews are done the repair work, there are several days that are going to be needed to get the water pressure back into the pipes to make sure any valves or pipes that were modified in the emergency situation are restored to their typical uses,” she said.
Strathmore water-use drops
Meanwhile, the mayor of nearby Strathmore, which relies on Calgary for its potable water, said he’s proud of his community’s response to water restrictions.
“Since the start of the Calgary water restrictions, we [Strathmore] have reduced our water usage by an average of 24 per cent, and a couple of days we hit 31 per cent,” Pat Fule told the Calgary Eyeopener on Monday.
But the incident could be a sign of things to come.
“Unfortunately, I worry that this is giving us a taste of what it might be like 30 years from now,” he said.
“This area we live in is not in the best situation as far as water sourcing, and we have to be careful. We have to be aware of how much we use. This is kind of exposure to that situation.”
Strathmore used to manage its own water source but as the town grew, pressure from businesses and developers led council in the early 2000s to enter the current partnership with Calgary, he said.
“We are still very confident in the water supply coming from Calgary. But it does make us think that potentially maybe we should have access to a small reservoir with a treatment plant that could be an emergency source. It will all come down to the money. There would be a lot of capital involved in that.”
YMCA lifeguards in limbo
Back in Calgary, a social services provider is struggling with staffing challenges related to the lack of water.
“It’s a tough time, undoubtedly,” Nick Wiggins of the Calgary YMCA told CBC News in an interview.
“Over 450 part-time lifeguards work for the Y, and at the moment, they are not able to work fully. This is an important time for them. Most of them are fairly young, seasonal staff who are saving money for university. So we are keen to get them back to work teaching kids to swim.”
He said that since the water main break, 25,000 swimming lessons have been cancelled, but getting back online shouldn’t be too problematic.
“When we get the go-ahead, we should be able to reopen within a day or so,” Wiggins said.
“Modern commercial swimming pools use very little water. It’s not so much the pools, it’s the showers before the pools. Modern recreation centres actually use an awful lot less water than they did many years ago.”
But that’s cold comfort to Jamie Thompson with Alberta Artistic Swimming.
She says teams are now travelling north to get their pool time.
“We have had to take our teams to Red Deer and Edmonton. Artistic swimming really requires a very specific type of facility,” she explained.
“We need a certain depth and a certain amount of space, and there actually are very few facilities in Alberta that offer this.”