A third-party review led by experts in water, engineering and infrastructure will determine what caused a major water main in Calgary to rupture nearly two weeks ago, forcing more than 1.6 million people to limit their usage.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek said during an update on Tuesday afternoon that the city will engage the private sector, national water associations and academics in the independent panel. It will be tasked with finding what contributed to the original pipe breach, identifying current practices for inspection and making recommendations to improve water supply resilience.
“Like all of you, I want it to get to the bottom of what happened,” she said. “I look forward to the light that this will shine on what led up to the failure of this pipe and how we can prevent anything like this from ever happening again.”
Residents of Calgary and surrounding communities, such as Airdrie, Chestermere and Strathmore, have been under mandatory and voluntary water restrictions since the original blowout on June 5, which led to a state of emergency in Calgary. While the main issue has been fixed, there are five problem areas in the Bearspaw South Feedermain still in need of repair.
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Replacement pipe being trucked from San Diego to mend two of the defective spots is expected to arrive in Calgary on Tuesday evening, said Michael Thompson, general manager of the Alberta city’s infrastructure services, at the update. The pipes will need to be sandblasted and epoxied before the installation can take place, he added.
“That preparation will take some time,” Mr. Thompson said. “On Friday, we communicated that an additional three to five weeks are required to support the repair of the hotspots. This timeline remains, and we are committed to provide an updated schedule for the construction by the end of the week.”
Ms. Gondek said crews are working around the clock to fix the worrisome areas and restore water flow to normal, but that safety remains paramount after two workers were injured last Wednesday while welding reinforcement into the broken pipe. One has returned to work in a modified capacity, but the other remains in hospital.
Parts of the existing pipe were being cut on Monday in preparation for the new sections that will take their place, the mayor said, before reminding residents that the situation remains serious.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure we shorten the timelines for this repair, but we have to make sure that this is all done in a safe manner,” Ms. Gondek said. “Until those hotspots are fixed and water is moving safely through our city, through that major transmission line, we all need to keep doing our part.”
The mayor said 450 million litres of water was used on Monday, well below the city’s threshold.
Residents have been helping to conserve water by taking shorter showers, limiting use of washing machines and dishwashers and collecting rainwater. Meanwhile, many restaurants are serving water only by request, and some have even worked with plumbers to reduce water use in automatic taps and toilets.
On Tuesday, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce launched an awareness campaign called Every Drop Counts to encourage business leaders to post about their water saving efforts on social media.
Chamber president Deborah Yedlin said she hopes that showing people working together for a common goal might help “take the sting out of the uncertainty” of the situation and help curb feelings of fatigue.
“It will end,” she said. “But it’s going to take some effort.”
She added that the business community is driven to do its part but that there are concerns about the longer-term impact. Ms. Yedlin used the example of breweries that are already fielding the higher cost of aluminum cans and must now balance water use with production, which typically increases before events such as the Calgary Stampede taking place in July.
“If you’re in a boxing ring, it’s just one more jab that you have to deal with in terms of your ability to pass on costs to your consumers.”
Alanna Smith