Calgary to consider report on 2024 water main failure as city grapples with another
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CALGARY – Calgary city councillors are set to learn more about what ails the city’s key water main, just days after the pipe ruptured a second time, forcing a renewed round of restrictions.
Council is set to hold a special meeting Wednesday afternoon to consider a panel’s report on what went wrong with the Bearspaw South Feeder Main in the summer of 2024 and how to prevent it from happening again.
“I am grateful we have its findings now, at a critical moment, to help guide our current response and the real-time decisions required to protect public safety and strengthen Calgary’s water system,” Mayor Jeromy Farkas said in a Tuesday Facebook post.
“The report will be presented publicly by the panel, debated openly, and formally considered by council so we can begin acting on its recommendations without delay.”
A previous investigation into the water line’s failure found there was microcracking to the outer layer of the pipe, corrosive damage to supportive wiring and high levels of chloride in soil around the feeder main. The new report is expected to provide more examination, including into the city’s wider utility infrastructure, and proactive recommendations.
The water line, which handles 60 per cent of the city’s treated water, ruptured last week, forcing it to be shut down again.
Farkas has said the city now must face a “new reality” that the downed line is fatally compromised and that more ruptures and shutdowns are possible until they get it replaced.
In both pipe breaches, some Calgary residents were put under a boil-water advisory. The most recent advisory, for close to 3,000 people, has since been lifted.
The line is expected to be shut down again in the spring and fall as the city works to inspect and reinforce it ahead of a future replacement. That could revive water restrictions that residents were advised to follow in the days after the pipe fracture.
The latest rupture forced the city to ask residents to take shorter showers and reduce toilet flushes, laundry and dish loads until the line is fixed, which could come as early as next week.
However, Farkas said daily water use is still too high — rising to 514 million litres on Monday, nearly 30 million above the city’s goal — putting a strain on water reserves and posing a risk to those fighting fires.
“Calgary we’re still in the water red zone. We need your URGENT help to buy a little more time for the repair,” Farkas wrote in a later post Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2026.