‘Work is progressing but we’re not out of the woods yet as we enter this (next) phase,’ said Michael Thompson, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services
City officials remain optimistic a ruptured feeder main will be operational in time for the start of the Calgary Stampede, but cautioned it will be several days after repairs are completed before water is flowing through the line.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Michael Thompson, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services, repeated their previous forecasts that work should be completed by July 5 — one month after the line ruptured — but said contingencies remain in place until service is fully restored.
“Work is progressing but we’re not out of the woods yet as we enter this (next) phase,” Thompson said during Monday’s afternoon update. “We still have a lot of work to do and we’ll be updating with more information as we go forward.”
Once the last of the five identified hot spots is fixed, the site will need to be backfilled before the line is flushed and water returned to the system is tested, Thompson said.
“We need to ensure we take all the necessary steps to introduce water back into the pipe while we monitor closely for any additional issues,” he said.
Total water consumption rose to 462 million litres on Sunday — below the city’s stated 480-million-litre daily threshold, but up from previous days.
Water consumption across the city is down about 22 per cent since restrictions were imposed.
“That’s not quite the (25 per cent) we were hoping for but we’re almost there, and I know that you continue to dig deeper and find more ways to save water,” said Gondek.
Three million litres of water used to fight condominium complex fire
Acting fire chief Deb Bergeson said firefighters used about three million litres of water to bring the two-alarm blaze under control.
“Much of that safety to our firefighters and safety to the people that we were evacuating should be attributed to the people who are saving water for us to do our job,” she said.
“We feared a large fire in a time of water restrictions and it turned out very successfully. What made it most successful is that there were no injuries.”
Bylaw officers have fielded 2,620 calls for water misuse and issued 17 violation tickets since June 6. Five tickets and 21 written warnings have been issued from 209 complaints related to the ongoing citywide fire ban.
As roadway reopens, some detours remain in place
Much of Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled to be held behind closed doors.
Other areas of 16th Avenue N.W. — from 46th Street N.W. to 45th Street N.W., and between 43rd Street N.W. and Bowness Road N.W. — remain closed with detours in place.
The city has also begun providing residents access to non-potable river water at six filling stations across the city — West Baker Park and Ogden boat launches; Bishop O’Byrne High School; the Genesis Centre; Ambrose University and the Spyhill Landfill.