Calgary's water system is in 'recovery mode,' says mayor

Since city officials announced indoor water consumption could return to normal this week, Calgarians appear to be easing back into their regular water use habits.

According to city officials,478 million litres of treated water wasused on Tuesday and usage increased mostlyin the evening. During the height of the water crisis, the city aimedto keep daily usage below480 million litres.

On Tuesday, the city said indoor water use couldreturn to normal, though Mayor Jyoti Gondekcontinued to urgeresidents to ease back into their regular water-use habits as crews work to fully stabilize the system.

During the city's scheduledafternoon update on Wednesday, Gondek used surgery as an analogy to explain the current state of thecity's water system.

"We are now in post-op, we are in recovery mode, and we need to monitor how our patient is doing," she said.

"The last thing we want to do is put the feeder main or the system at risk again."

WATCH | City says residents appear ro haveeased back into indoor water use:

City provides update on water main break

2 months ago

Duration 15:09

City officials provide update on the major feeder main break affecting Calgary's water supply.

The city remains under a state of local emergencyand outdoor Stage 4 water restrictions and a citywide fire ban remain in place as crews determine how the system will respond to the easing of indoor conservation measures.

"We need to keep the whole system stable at this current level of pressure before we can relax to a lesser set of outdoor water restrictions" said Sue Henry, chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, on Wednesday.

To date, the city's 311 service has received over 11,200 calls related to water misuse and the fire ban. Bylaw officers have issued 19 tickets for water misuse, and six tickets for violating the fire ban.

Henry says all city-owned pools reopened on Wednesday, but certain features such as hot tubs, water slides and kiddie pools have not yet been reopened.

As for outdoor pools, the city says these recreational spaces won't reopen until the city reaches at least Stage 3 outdoor water restrictions.

The state of local emergency expires on Thursday, and the city will review whether to reneworlift it as they monitor the situation.

TheCity of Calgary's general manager of infrastructure services, Michael Thompson, said on Tuesday the Bearspawsouth feeder main which ruptured on June 5 is operating at 50 per cent capacity for now, andrestoring normal water supply also means taking some of the stress off of the rest of the system.

The mayor says that, since the feeder main broke, over 3.5 billion litres of water have been conserved compared to what's typically used in Calgary by this time of year.

3rd-party review will take at least a year

In mid-June, the cityconfirmed there would be a full, third-party review into what caused the catastrophic failure behind the feeder main's rupture. Thescope of its work is wide rangingand the City of Calgary'stop bureaucrat, chief administrative officer David Duckworth, is spearheading the plan to put it together.

On Wednesday, a city council committeeheard itwill take at least one yearfrom now for Calgarians to knowthe full scope and scale of what happened behind the feeder main break.

"We do expect the report, likely, will not be before council until some time later in 2025," said Duckworth.

"We need to make sure, again, this is an independent, thorough review so that the public has trust and confidence in the City of Calgary."

However, several members of council criticized the planned scope of the review during Wednesday's committee meeting, saying city administrators should not limit the work done by a panel of experts.

"I think the vast majority of us on that committee felt that we were trying to make an independent process too administration heavy," said Gondek during Wednesday regular water update when asked about the review.

"So it has gone back and we've asked CAO Duckworth to come back to us with something that's considerably more independent."

Gondek told CBC Radio's Calgary Eyeopener on Wednesday morningthat she feels confident this third-party review will shed light on what could be improved upon within the city's water infrastructure system.

LISTEN | Jyoti Gondek discusses current water supply situation:

Calgary Eyeopener8:18Mayor on water

We're joined by Mayor Jyoti Gondek to talk about the repaired pipe, lessons learned, and when you can finally water your garden.

She says the independentreview will be able to pinpoint the cause behind the rupture,what measures might be needed to prevent a repeat of the situation and to analyze the city's response to the crisis.

City council is expected to receivean update on the reviewat its meeting on July 30.