Prep work begins along 33 Avenue N.W. ahead of water main repairs

City crews began soft cutting the asphalt along 33 Avenue N.W. in Bowness on Wednesday to prepare the road for heavy excavation as they repair segments of the Bearspaw feeder main.

"Time is of the essence because we have water restrictions in here," said Darren Finney, leader of the wastewater and storm water capital delivery team in the water department.

"We want to get things out quickly and we're hoping to do it during the day."

Work starts on Aug. 26 and is scheduled to go 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

The city found 21 additional locations of concern along the Bearspaw feeder main after repairing the previous damage from a June 5 rupture along 16 Avenue N.W.

The June 5 rupture pushed the city into Stage 4 water restrictions, something that will return – for a month – starting next week.

Tim Sutherland lives on 33 Avenue N.W. and has so for a decade.

He says that part of his driveway will be ripped up, with no place to park on his property as repairs begin.

"Between that house, that house, that house, that house, that house and that house, there's 12 vehicles," he said while pointing to his neighbours homes.

"Zip on over to 34 (Ave), where we're supposed to park, it's already full."

Sutherland adds that he believes the noise is expected to get worse.

"The beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, clunk, clunk, clunk. Clunk, rumble, rumble, rumble… 24-7," he said.

"The one liaison with the city was like, 'Well, we'll give you some masks. We'll give you some earplugs.'"

Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp says she expects there to be bumps.

"There's going to be some ups and downs, and I know that we've asked Calgarians in general to be patient and exercise their resiliency," she said.

"It's hard. This has been a rough summer."

She says a review panel is undertaking the reasons on why Calgary was forced to do this repair work on a pipe at only half its life cycle.

"How did this happen in Calgary? And were there reports in previous years that gave council a heads up that this could have happened?" she told reporters.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents around 2,000 local businesses in Calgary, sent a letter to city council Tuesday, asking for support.

"We have limited summer months in Calgary, and for a lot of specific types of businesses, those months are crucial," said Keyli Loeppky, director of Alberta and Intergovernmental Affairs. 

Loeppky adds that the Main Streets Business Support Grant that the city initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included funding support from the province and federal government, should be expanded to support local business impacted by the constant construction struggles.

"If the water is shut off for some of these landscaping, irrigation or gardening businesses, they may have to reduce hours and lay off people," said Loeppky.

"And during an affordability crisis, that's not really something Calgarians can afford, being effectively shut down by these water restrictions is can be detrimental to them."

The CFIB is urging council to expand construction mitigation policies, saying the city needs to step up financially for those impacted.

"Each level of government should take responsibility for the projects that it puts in place," she said.

"The water main is a primary municipal responsibility, so one of the few things that's actually a core service in the city. It really should be up to the city to be providing this funding."

Sharp addressed the letter on Wednesday, saying she supports offering help to businesses, but suggesting council might require more time to determine what that would look like.

We have to think about the businesses that were impacted, I would say acutely, but then we have to think about the businesses now that are being impacted again with Stage Four," she said.

"Let's finish this construction and see what the impacts were. But there does need to be support for businesses, especially from what I might call the 'first phase' of the water main issues."

The city says that local media initially interrupted workflow, blaming its presence for distracting construction workers, during the initial water main break in June.

"The workers were getting distracted by the cameras, because we're not used to the cameras, so when that guy is using the blade going 2,000 rpms, he's busy looking at the reporter and not concentrating on what he's doing," said Finney.

Finney says the use of television cameras and drones made the workers feel less safe, something he felt was needed to be addressed before work gets underway on 33 Avenue N.W.

Construction is expected to be complete Sept. 26.

A return to Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions, on Monday will mean no outdoor use of potable water, limit showers to three minutes, skip toilet flushes and only wash full loads of laundry and dishes.

Businesses are also expected to reduce water use by 25 per cent.