The City of Calgary’s director of capital priorities and investment, Francois Bouchart, says that over the weekend officials will discuss easing water restrictions down to Stage 2, and a final decision will come on Monday.
As of Friday afternoon, Calgary remains under Stage 3 restrictions as crews monitor how the city’s water system will respond to the easing of conservation measures.
Bouchart repeated on Friday that Calgary’s distribution system would be able to meet the water demand as long as Stage 3 outdoor restrictions remain in place.
“I want to reiterate that we are moving cautiously so that we don’t set back our progress,” he said, adding that the city will consider the pipe’s condition and what impact adding more pressure and increasing flow would have.
“By Monday, we will be making a decision and will share more information of what it means for water restrictions.”
Earlier this week, the city announced that all outdoor pools are exempt from the ongoing outdoor water restrictions in order to provide people with some options for relief from the heat.
The City of Calgary has been gradually lifting restrictions on water use, though officials continue to urge residents to ease back into their regular water-use habits as crews work to fully stabilize the system.
No new wire snaps discovered as of Friday
Water usage decreased on Thursday, as residents used 565 million litres, down from Wednesday’s 567-million-litre peak.
City officials say the Bearspaw south feeder main — which ruptured on June 5 — is still operating at only 55 per cent capacity.
On Thursday, Bouchart also said that monitoring devices along the Bearspaw south feeder main detected another new wire snap in the pipe since easing restrictions, which makes three wires in total that have snapped.
“Yesterday, we shared that our monitors had detected one additional wire snap in the feeder main, bringing the total to three since Sunday,” said Bouchart during his Friday afternoon update.
“While this is not a sign of an imminent break in the feeder main, it is an indicator that the pipe is under some stress.”
As of Friday afternoon, no new wire snaps have been detected, according to the city, but crews continue to monitor the pipe. Bouchart says the data collected from the PipeDiver device that has been deployed is expected to be available later this month.