Filling the feeder main will take about three days, followed by water quality testing before water from the pipe is slowly reintroduced into the system
Calgary’s Bearspaw south feeder main will begin refilling Tuesday, putting the city on pace to lift water restrictions this weekend.
The feeder main had to be shut off during repairs, hampering the City of Calgary’s ability to deliver water to customers.
“We now expect to start refilling the feeder main beginning (Tuesday) morning,” Francois Bouchart, the city’s director of capital priorities and investment, said in a brief update Monday afternoon.
Filling the feeder main will take about three days, he said.
Despite originally anticipating to begin filling the feeder main on Monday, he said more time was needed for concrete to cure and reach its required strength.
As the concrete cures it “heats up,” and Bouchart said officials want to make sure when they start flowing (typically cold) water through the pipe they don’t introduce “temperature shock” to the concrete, which could compromise its strength.
“This should not impact our overall timeline to lift water restrictions this upcoming weekend,” he said.
Once the feeder main is filled, water quality testing will be completed to ensure water meets or exceeds all standards. Then the system must be stabilized, with pumps being turned on and valves opened, reconnecting the feeder main to the system.
The city used 489 million litres of water on Sunday, above the target of 485 million litres.
Bouchart noted that as the feeder main is filled, it’s expected that water demand will rise by about seven million litres per day, up to the 22 million litres required to fill the pipe.
“We are now in the end stages of construction,” Bouchart said.
Roads reopening
Bouchart said 33rd Avenue N.W., east of 83rd Street N.W. is expected to open by Tuesday.
“We expect (to) reopen 33rd Avenue N.W. from 83rd Street to 87th Street later this week,” he said.
Watch the Sept. 16 update from the City of Calgary below:
— With files from Bill Kaufmann