Failure of 'grandfather of all water mains' to blame for Calgary water issues, councillor says

A Calgary city councillor says a water crisis affecting one community is "very serious" and is calling on the generosity of Calgarians to help their neighbours.

Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp says the "grandfather of all water mains" broke in Montgomery on Wednesday afternoon, flooding a wide area of the community before the water was shut off.

She says thousands of people in the community were affected.

"The repairs are going to take some time," she told CTV News on Thursday. "I know they did some work on it in the early spring, which is great news, but this is obviously impacting not just Bowness and Montgomery.

"This is going to start impacting the entire city."

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Sharp says emergency water supplies are in place at four locations for residents to access: Bowness Community Association, Belvedere Parkway School, Bowcrest Seniors Home and Our Lady of the Assumption School.

However, Sharp says there is an issue for seniors to get to those locations to access water, so the city is calling on residents to take potable water to the residents who need it.

She says the Bowness Community Association has also organized an effort to collect bottled water to hand out to residents who need it.

"We have folks dropping off water as we speak, which is really critical to be able to get water out. The trucks are great but you'd have to come with your own bottles or jugs."

In addition to collecting water in jugs, Bowness residents are also able to get some bottled water, donated to the Bowness Community Association.

Cornelius Wind, a Bowness resident, told CTV News he lost water at his home at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Wind said he called his daughter to try and find out what happened.

"She told me there was a water advisory because there was a break in Montgomery by the Safeway and she told me all about the advisory – what I had to do, what I could do and what I couldn't do," he said, adding that his daughter warned him the water could be out for days.

Luckily, when Wind got up the following morning, he found out the water was back.

However, he says he's been following the city's guidelines, relying heavily on his rain barrels as a water source.

"It's a bit of an inconvenience, especially for people like me that don't have the internet or anything like that.

"I don't get the information unless people come down and tell me."

Another Bowness resident, Nolan McKendrick, has water at his home, but it's not usable for anything more than handwashing.

"It's very low pressure, a little bit yellow coming out of the taps, but there is a little water," he said. "I knew we shouldn't be drinking it."

He says now that the water wagons are in place in the community, he can go get water and he has a plan for everything else.

"I've got parents not too far away so we can shower if need be."

Sharp says it could be a while before the issue is resolved.

"This is going to be ongoing for the next couple days until water is free flowing, but there is still a boil water advisory going on."

In addition to lending a helping hand, she also pleaded with all Calgarians to stick to the water conservation measures, especially as they evolve over the coming days.

"Things happened so quickly last night over the evening," she said. "The alert went out this morning which said, 'stop doing everything.'

"What we know now is follow the Stage 4 restrictions for outdoor watering and if you do need to shower, shorten those shower times, continue to do those things that you need to do and are necessary."

Sharp says other restrictions, like a fire ban, are just common sense.

"Accidental fires happen, we get that, but let's be careful when we're out and about."