Calgary expects water-use restrictions to ease in time for Stampede, as repairs on ruptured water main continue

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Calgary expects to ease water-use restrictions in time for the city’s famous 10-day celebration of cowboy culture, according to a revised timeline for repairs of a major pipe that ruptured two weeks ago.

Michael Thompson, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services, said in an update Wednesday afternoon that access to water will improve by July 5, the first day of the Calgary Stampede. If the city can deliver on its revised schedule, it will eliminate a major logistical hurdle for the Stampede, which planned to proceed even if water restrictions were still in place.

Calgary’s new target for lifting those restrictions indicates repairs to the Bearspaw South Feedermain, which busted June 5, are proceeding more quickly than officials expected last week.

The city has been under a combination of mandatory and voluntary water restrictions since June 6 and last Friday, officials said conservation measures could be in place for three to five weeks because Calgary determined the broken pipe sported an additional five critically damaged spots in need of urgent repair.

Mr. Thompson told reporters Wednesday that the city is now optimistic the restrictions will lift in early July.

“We are aiming for the low end of our original timeline of three to five weeks, which would be July the 5th,” he said. “There are still many risks ahead, but every day we work through this complex repair, we become more confident in our timeline.”

The Calgary Stampede attracts thousands of visitors to Alberta’s largest city and provides a major economic boost every summer. The Stampede’s chief executive officer, Joel Cowley, said Monday that the mega-festival would proceed as planned, despite the water restrictions. Organizers were prepared to truck in treated water for livestock and attendees and use non-potable water for tasks like grooming the rodeo arena, Mr. Cowley said.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Calgary does not have an estimate on how much the repairs will cost. Coby Duerr, the acting chief for Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said officials are still working to determine whether expenses will be covered by insurance.

On June 6, Calgary asked residents to cut indoor water use by a quarter and banned outdoor watering. On June 8, Calgary said it would be five to seven days, at best, before service returned to normal.

The city extended the restrictions after a robot, sent down the drained pipe as repairs were underway, gathered data that indicated there were five more troublesome spots. Calgary has fixed the initial break and has excavated the area around the five other areas. The city had parts on hand for three of the hot spots, and San Diego County Water Authority shipped two more pieces of pipe to Calgary.

Those two sections of steel arrived Tuesday evening, and a local contractor is in the process of sandblasting them and coating them with epoxy. That process will take about two days, the city said.

The Bearspaw South Feedermain, which connects to the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant, normally supplies treated water to 60 per cent of the city, as well as residents in Airdrie, Chestermere and Strathmore. With the Bearspaw line knocked out, Calgary has been relying on water treated at the older Glenmore Water Treatment Plant.