Broken Calgary water main was in 'good' condition: Gondek
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says the main problem hasn't been fixed, but some ingenuity by the city's water services department helped supply Bowness with some safe drinking water.
Alberta Health Services lifted the boil water advisory on Monday evening after city crews diverted treated water being produced at the Bearspaw treatment facility to the neighbourhood.
- Sign up for breaking news alerts from CTV News, right at your fingertips
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
Despite the good news, Gondek says the city is under outdoor water restrictions.
"I'm still encouraging people to reduce their water use indoors, the Bowness water solution is not a result of the feeder main being repaired," she told CTV News on Tuesday morning.
Last Wednesday, a 78-inch pipe, built from layers of concrete and steel, burst and flooded a large section of Montgomery, knocking out water services for thousands of residents in Bowness.
Over the weekend, crews managed to excavate the pipe and repairs have been ongoing ever since.
Gondek says the work is expected to continue until at least Saturday, with water restrictions also expected to stay in place until that work is complete.
"That's the bare minimum time frame," she said. "The crews have been working hard, they've lifted out chunks of the old pipe and they're actively working to get the replacement put in."
Once the repairs are complete, Gondek says it could take a little bit longer before everything returns to normal for Calgarians.
"There is a process in which they need to treat the sealing of the pipe then they need to do the flushing and testing to make sure the pipe is good to go," she said.
Gondek says she isn't sure how much time will be needed to restore the 23 reservoirs of treated water throughout Calgary.
Crews are also currently working to inspect the pipes in an attempt to find out what happened and take care of any vulnerabilities.
"I can tell you that this type of infrastructure has a 100-year lifespan, so we're only at 50 years right now and there was no way to anticipate this break would happen," Gondek said.
"Crews are working to determine what did happen."
She says the vast majority of pipes in Calgary are in good or very good condition and the affected pipe was in "good" condition.
"It had some maintenance work done to add a little bit of technology, like air valves, to make sure it was going to move into the future in a good way."
Gondek said the feeder main will also be worked on in the fall.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Smith tells Trudeau Alberta will opt out of federal dental plan
Alberta is opting out of the federal dental plan, the premier told the Canadian government late Tuesday afternoon.
One of Canada's most popular vehicles recalled over transmission issue; 95,000 impacted
One of the country's most popular vehicles is being recalled in Canada due to a transmission issue that may impact tens of thousands of drivers.
WikiLeaks' Assange pleads guilty in deal with U.S. that secures his freedom, ends legal fight
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors that secures his liberty and concludes a drawn-out legal saga that raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security.
'We need to regroup,' says Liberal minister and Ontario campaign co-chair in light of byelection loss
A member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet and the party's Ontario co-chair for the next campaign says the Liberals 'need to regroup' after a shocking overnight byelection loss to Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives.
Pre-med students can't take MCAT in Quebec because of Bill 96
Areeba Ahmed says she's always dreamed of becoming a surgeon but her road to the operating room has become a complicated one ever since Quebec's French language law came into effect.
Protesters try to topple Queen Victoria statue near pro-Palestinian encampment in Montreal
Montreal police were called to intervene after protesters attempted to tear down the Queen Victoria statue at Victoria Square.
Cup Noodles serves up notoriously poisonous pufferfish
Pufferfish is regarded as a luxury in Japan and a meal featuring the potentially poisonous delicacy can easily cost up to 20,000 yen (US$125) at high-end restaurants.
'Truly a great British Columbian': Former B.C. premier John Horgan has cancer again
Former B.C. premier and current Canadian ambassador to Germany John Horgan has been diagnosed with cancer for a third time.
New experience in Halifax gets people up close and personal to the ocean's most feared predator
Atlantic Shark Expeditions launched a new shark cage experience which gives brave attendees a chance to get up close and personal with the oceans most feared predator.