Repair work on the Bearspaw feeder main in Calgary is expected to be completed this weekend, one week ahead of schedule, with water restrictions expected to lift on Sept. 22.
"This is great news for everyone that has been following the maintenance and repair work, especially the residents and businesses that have had work taking place on the street right in front of their homes and businesses," said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek during a Sept. 12 update.
This new construction timeline means water conservation will go on for only another 10 more days, she said, which is the time it will take for workers to finish the concrete pours, the backfill, and paving work on all repair sites, as well as the filling of the pipe, monitoring of water flow, and quality testing.
"Again, we remain optimistic that Sept. 22 is the date of lifting water restrictions," Gondek said. "But we have to watch for a couple of things. First, the rain may impact backfilling and paving work, and second, following all of the repairs, the gradual increase of water flow in the pipe is something the water team will need to monitor carefully."
The independent water review is underway and experts are being assembled, she continued. Gondek said reports are expected to come back at the end of October. Two reviews will provide everyone with transparency and clarity on what happened, why it happened, and how the City can ensure it does not happen again.
"Once I have all that information in hand, I will be talking with the provincial and federal governments, advocating for more infrastructure funding for Calgary and all municipalities," Gondek said. She said no city is able to escape aging infrastructure.
Water demand on Sept. 11 was 484 million litres, marking the second day water has been in the sustainable water use zone.
Progress of repairs
The remaining work on the Bearspaw feeder main is one week ahead of schedule, according to Calgary officials.
There are eight worksites along the feeder main with 21 pipe segments requiring repair; 20 segments have so far been completed.
Segments at site one through four were previously completed. This weekend, concrete pouring is expected on the last pipe segment at site five, ahead of the original schedule. Over the weekend portions of 33rd avenue will begin to reopen.
At sites six to eight, excavation and concrete pouring are complete with concrete forms removed. Backfilling is in progress, followed by paving. On Monday, sections of 16th avenue are expected to reopen.
Also on Monday, the feeder main will be filled with water, which is the first step in bringing the feeder main back into service and will take three days. While filling is happening, quality testing will take place. Flushing won't need to take place as the pipe was never opened like it was back in June's main repair.
Water samples will be analyzed in a lab to ensure water quality meets standards, which will take 24 hours. After this, the system will be stabilized by turning on water pumps at the Bearspaw treatment plant and beginning to open valves. The stabilize phase should take less than a day.
If all goes according to plan, water use will return to normal on Sept. 22.