Bearspaw South Feeder Main critical break

The City is working with a private engineering company on the medium—and long-term plans for the Bearspaw South Feeder Main. They are considering different options and will provide more information soon.

Councillor Sharp has raised residents' concerns about the interconnected water system at the recent City Council meeting here. 

The non-operational Bearspaw south feedermain has led to changes in water routes across the entire City, which has subsequently affected all NW communities.

The broken pipe has caused significant changes in system pressure and flows, which water conservation efforts aim to manage.

A map of Public Water Mains and Pressure Zones is available on Open Data to illustrate the system's interconnectivity. Councillor Sharp encourages water conservation to ensure system reliability and function.

A final report including recommendations and findings will be delivered to the Chief Administration Officer by October 31, 2024, and come to Committee or Council in November 2024. Councillor Sharp knows that understanding the cause of the feeder main failure is a matter of significant public interest and importance, and is looking forward to hearing the final report in November. 

In early June, while repairs were being completed to the initial break on the feeder main, The City used a robotic device to scan approximately 4.3 kilometres of the pipe that was drained of water. This scan identified five “hot spots”  segments of the pipe that needed urgent repair before we could refill them with water. 

In late June, after the repairs were made and the pipe was brought back into service, The City used another device called a PipeDiver, to scan the entire length of the feeder main, including approximately six kilometres that had not been scanned initially. 

At the end of July, The City began receiving results from the PipeDiver scan. After analyzing these results, several other segments of the pipe were identified that cannot wait for a medium or long-term plan. 

As a result, The City needed to make urgent repairs to these segments to address the risk of another unexpected break. 

These repairs began on August 26, and continued until the end of September. The majority of the work was along a section of 33 Avenue N.W. There was also work on Parkdale Blvd and  additional repairs on 16 Avenue N.W. 

In order to conduct these urgent repairs, The City needed to again shut down the South Bearspaw Feeder Main and stop the flow of water through it, which means that during the repair period Calgarians needed to return to Stage 4 Outdoor Water Restrictions.

The Calgary Stampede, along with other significant festivals, conferences, and events, continued as scheduled, with added water conservation measures in place. 

City Administration worked with the Calgary Stampede to make this important decision, and reviewed the five-year daily water demand trend during Stampede Week, and it has been noted that there wasn’t a significant uptick in demand during past years. They note that this is because many Calgarians travel elsewhere during the month of July, so water usage balances out with visitors versus travelers. They also noted the weather trend that we often see heavy rainfall in early July, so outdoor watering decreases.  

The Calgary Stampede, as a non-profit organization, brought in about $143 million in gross revenue from its own activities last year and received another $7.7 million in grants from the provincial government. That's $150.7 million in total income, about half of which comes from the Stampede itself. They will be covering the cost of the imported water vehicles for this event. 

City Administration is working with the Calgary Hotel Association to prepare communications and regulations for visitors who arrive at hotels for the event. The industry has creative ideas and solutions to help tourists understand the situation that our city is in. Tourism Calgary is also supporting these efforts.