City of Calgary to provide update on water restrictions, feeder main repairs

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas will join city officials Monday afternoon to provide a preview of new water restrictions that will be coming into place next week, along with an update on repairs to the Bearspaw South Feeder Main.

The city has announced that the feeder main will need to be shut down for a month, starting Monday, March 9, to allow city crews to do repair work on nine segments of the pipe along 16 Avenue Northwest near Sarcee Trail.

The shutdown means Calgarians will be asked to conserve water while the Bearspaw Feeder Main, which normally supplies about 60 per cent of the city’s water, is out of service.

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During feeder main repairs earlier this year, Calgarians regularly failed to meet the city’s targets for reduced water consumption.

The city announced plans for the repair work after a number of new “wire snaps” were detected recently along the feeder main, which Farkas has declared to be “terminally ill” and in need of replacement.

Two recent catastrophic ruptures of the feeder main have also prompted the city to expedite work to completely replace the pipe, which it hopes to have completed by the end of 2026.

Monday’s update is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be livestreamed by Global News Calgary in the video player above.