Calgarians trim water use as work on some repair sites going 'quicker' than expected

After more than a week of daily water use at or above 500 million litres, the City of Calgary recorded its lowest numbers for demand on Monday at 494 million litres.

The news comes as repair work on the Bearspaw feeder main, a critical piece of infrastructure that distributes the majority of Calgary's water, passed the halfway mark.

While water use was lower Monday than it has been in recent times, it was still above the threshold of 485 million litres that city officials said was sustainable. 

But it's a move in the right direction.

"Thanks to those who took the extra step, or should I say, skipped that extra flush," said Francois Bouchart, the city's director of capital priorities and investment, during an update Tuesday.

"We need everyone's help to save water."

Bouchart said repair work should be complete by the originally anticipated date of Sept. 23.

"A number of our construction sites, we've actually been able to do the repairs quicker because they're repeating the same steps," Bouchart said.

He added that just because the work is being done more efficiently at one site doesn't mean the overall timeline for repairs will be shorter.

Bouchart said the pipe will be back to full service once it's filled, flushed and tested — a process that's expected to take two days.

Calgary remains under Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions while work to repair the pipe is ongoing. Since restrictions were implemented, 29 tickets have been issued. The fine for each violation is $3,000. 

"We are continuing to get reports of city water being used outdoors. Our bylaw teams are following up on these reports and issuing fines where warranted," Bouchart said.

There have been 1,517 complaints involving single family residences, 284 complaints involving commercial or industrial use and 130 complaints involving multi-family residences.