Mayor Jyoti Gondek said in her Sunday update that Calgarians have worked to bring water use to one of its lowest points, and have to keep it up just a little bit longer now that the testing phase is underway.
She says 447 million litres of water were used Saturday, well below the 480 million litre limit, and much lower than the record high of 500 million litres on Thursday.
The city has long said the threshold considered safe is 480 million litres, meaning issues could arise for hospitals and other medical facilities, and if a fire were to break out.
The flushing process finished Saturday, and samples were sent to Alberta Health Services (AHS) for testing — the second to last phase before water flow can return to normal.
Gondek says if no problems are detected in the water, AHS will give the all-clear to proceed; however, any issues detected mean the city has to go back to the flushing phase to prepare another set of samples. She previously said the testing by AHS takes 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the Bow River pathway through the Point Mckay area on the north side has reopened, but residents will notice equipment still in place. This is just in case the city is sure it doesn’t need to go through the re-flushing phase again.
“Assuming that the test comes back clean and we can move on, our water crews will slowly begin turning on a series of pumps and valves to bring that section of the feedermain back into the water system,” Gondek said.
“And as any of you with pipeline experience will know, this stabilization process is the most risky step in restoring water service. Our water team will be paying close attention to all of their monitoring equipment to see if any of the readings are out of the ordinary.”
The mayor says residents will notice hydrants being used to flush out water during the stabilization process and is a “necessary step in returning water back into the feedermain.”
The Parkdale neighbourhood will be the first area to see hydrants being used.
Watch: Calgary’s feeder main repair work continues into weekend: Officials
While city crews will be slowly bringing the section of two-meter wide pipe back online, Gondek says Calgarians need to keep doing their part in conserving as much water as possible.
“The feeder main needs to stabilize to make sure that nothing goes wrong,” she said.
“It’s very much like I said yesterday (Saturday), ‘If you have gone through surgery and you are recovering, sometimes you need some more tests to be run before you can get the all-clear.’ That’s the stage that we’re in right now. We still need to be cautious as we get that pipe stabilized.”
The mayor said Wednesday that restrictions could be lifted by Canada Day as long as crews don’t run into any more unforeseen problems as they work to restore the regular water supply.
City infrastructure manager Francois Bouchart said Saturday he is “cautiously optimistic” about the timeline because of those sampling results and the resulting steps that follow its completion, which is meeting regulatory standards to put the line in service.
The Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions remain in place along with the fire ban. Fines are now being handed out for non-compliance and the city says they have now fielded nearly 3,000 calls about water misuse.
City officials also confirmed this week that Canada Day fireworks will proceed from Stampede Park, despite the ongoing fire ban.