Calgary activates municipal emergency plan after water main break

The city of Calgary is under a mandatory water advisory where officials are telling all residents and businesses to strictly limit their water usage following a major water main break on Wednesday.

At about 6:30 a.m., Alberta Emergency Alert sent out a message to all residents of Calgary about the issue.

"A water main break along 16 Avenue N.W. has impacted the city's water supply," it said. "Supply levels have reached a critical state, affecting the city's ability to provide water to communities and ensure adequate water is available to support emergency fire suppression."

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The alert said all residents should do all they can to conserve water, including not showering or bathing, washing dishes or running appliances that use water until further notice.

The city put out its own water advisory around 5 a.m. Thursday morning.

"The city has enacted its municipal emergency plan and currently, we do not have an estimate for how long the boil water advisory or the water restrictions will be necessary," the city said in a news release.

"This issue is temporary, and our crews are working 24/7 to complete the necessary repair work."

In an update on X on Thursday afternoon, the City of Calgary said it was initiating its municipal emergency plan in response to the water main break and closing all of its city-run aquatic and fitness centres.

All arenas would also be closed, with the exception of dry pads.

"All impacted programs, classes and lessons will be automatically cancelled and refunded," the city said.

Water wagons

At a 3 p.m. update, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said crews were working 24/7 to assess the situation. She reported that no businesses have been flooded and there's been significant infrastructure damage done that might take another day or two to diagnose before repairs can be undertaken.

She added that Calgarians have responded to the city's request to limit water usage, and that it has decreased throughout the day.

"We're in good shape," Gondek said. "Big shout out to Calgarians."

The city issued a release Thursday afternoon listing nine different water wagons that have been set up in Bowness for residents and businesses to access water.

The locations are as follows:

• 4527 77 St. N.W. (Bowness Community Association);
• 5927 Bowness Rd. N.W. (Bow Crest Nursing Home);
• 7311 34 Ave.NW (Our Lady of Assumption School);
• 4631 85 St. N.W. (On 85 ST beside Belvedere Parkway School);
• 7915 43 Ave. N.W. (Bow Centre Seniors Home);
• 2003 46 St N.W. (James Shouldice Manor - access between school and Manor on 47 St.;
• 82 Juniper Drive N.W.;
• 4628 Montgomery BV NW (Bow View Manor Nursing Home); and
• 6540 Bowness Rd N.W. (on 65 ST NW beside Bowness Car Wash)

A boil water advisory remains in place for Bowness until further notice.

Business restrictions

Businesses are asked to stop water use for all non-essential services, including businesses who use volumes of non-essential outdoor water, such as for construction, exterior window cleaning, pesticide applications and washing surfaces.

Businesses using water to deliver a product or service that is life-sustaining for people, animals or plants are exempt.

Other exemptions include any business that must use water to meet health code standards, such as hospitals and restaurants.

The city said it was also in contact with the hotel association to ask hotel guests to limit water use.

'Serious situation'

Sue Henry, chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, called the break "large and complicated."

"This makes an estimate on when the issue will be resolved difficult to predict. What we do know is that every drop of water will count until we get this repair done."

Nancy McKay, Calgary's director of water services, says the main break was on a critical pipe, one of the feeder mains that's used to move water across the city.

"It's a serious situation and our first priority is public health," she said. "This is an unprecedented, large break."

McKay says Calgary has about 170 water main breaks a year, but has no details on how many of those involve feeder mains.

"It's the largest that I remember," she said, adding that crews are still working to locate exactly where the break is.

"Our crews are out there containing the water loss at the moment and they're going to find that leak, which is not always easy when the hole in the big pipe isn't exactly where the water bubbles up. They're really focusing in on where that is and then the repair."

Mayor Jyoti Gondek says the city has dedicated all of its resources to resolve the issue and appreciates the patience and cooperation from all residents during this difficult time.

"I want to thank you, Calgary, for doing your part," she said. "I realize this morning's emergency alert was quite jarring and I appreciate that everyone paid attention to the need to conserve water right now."

A Stage 4 outdoor water ban has been issued for for the whole city because the issue involves "a critical transmission line."

Calgary's water supply cut, expert says

Cathy Ryan, an Earth, energy and environment professor at the U of C, says the break must have happened in a "very significant water main."

"We are quite lucky to have two water treatment plants," Ryan said.

"The Glenmore Reservoir, which is the Elbow River, a tenth of the size of the Bow, supplies 40 per cent of the city and the Bearspaw, which is the Bow River - a much bigger river, supplies 60 per cent."

She said the city has the ability to shut off some mains and use others.

"Probably they're using their secondary water treatment plant to supply the city."

Ryan says Calgary's water infrastructure is not unlike the network of arteries in the human body.

"They start at the heart and get smaller and smaller and we take the deoxygenated blood back into the heart expect that, in this case, the water comes in from the reservoirs and goes out through the wastewater treatment plant."

The current problem, Ryan believes, is that "a significant supply is gone" from Calgary's water system.

"They're making up for it with a smaller treatment plant, which is less than half of the city - we have to share out the remaining supply."

Seven schools impacted: CBE

Concerned families were told by the Calgary Board of Education that the issue is only affecting services at a handful of schools in its system.

Officials told parents in a letter on Thursday morning that seven schools are impacted and the families of students at those schools are being provided with instructions.

Those sites are Belvedere Parkway School, Bowcroft School, Bowness High School, Thomas B. Riley School, Discovering Choices - Bowness and two Wood's Homes sites.

There are no details about what measures are in place at the affected schools, but the CBE said all classes at the rest of its schools will be running as usual.

City of Airdrie initiates water restrictions

Meanwhile, in response to the major water break, other communities, particularly those that draw on the same water sources that Calgary does, are bringing in their own conservation guidelines.

The City of Airdrie, which gets its water from the Bearspaw water treatment facility, said Thursday morning that all residents in the city north of Calgary should "immediately stop outdoor water usage."

This includes watering lawns, gardens and trees or washing buildings, sidewalks, driveways and cars.

The city says it has suspended bulk water sales, effective immediately.

"There are no boil water advisories in effect within the City of Airdrie and water remains safe to drink. To ensure we share the water currently available, we are asking Airdrie residents to immediately restrict indoor water use."

Airdrie's mayor said the decision to involve Airdronians with the water conservation measures came from a discussion between experts in the field.

"We advised our water services group immediately when it happened. We were aware from the outset and they've been on top of it since early this morning," Peter Brown said.

Officials say dishwashers and washing machines should only be used when required and only with full loads, showers should be limited to five minutes and baths should be kept shallow.

Businesses that use non-essential water, such as laundromats and car washes, are being asked to reduce water use.

As in Calgary, businesses that provide life sustaining services are exempt from the restrictions.

That includes businesses that need to use water to meet health code standards such as health centres and restaurants.

The water restrictions currently in place in Airdrie are stricter than they were during drought conditions last year, when the city instructed residents to limit using water outside to three times a week.

"This is more just out of caution," Brown said. "We want to be sure we're conserving as much as we can until this break has been repaired.

"We're really confident with the people that are addressing the issue in Calgary. We've been in contact with the mayor's office and everyone at every level is doing all they can to rectify this situation as soon as possible."

Brown says the city will also "lead by example" during the crisis by shutting down its own non-essential water usage, including its splash park.

"We're going to shut everything down."

The water main broke around 7 p.m. Wednesday and, according to fire officials, they were able to shut it off by about 10 p.m.

Police said they’ve received many calls to 911 about water issues.

It’s reminding Calgarians that people should call 311 unless it’s an emergency.

16 Avenue remains closed eastbound at Sarcee Trail and westbound at Home Road due to the break.