Calgarians bring water use back to green as feeder-main reinforcement work continues

We’re all water heroes again.

The City of Calgary says after drifting into a water-use red zone Sunday, residents corrected course Monday.

Water use is back under 500 million litres a day, putting us back in the green zone.

That’s even despite some unexpected special circumstances.

“Yesterday’s water use was 497 million litres, despite the higher demand needed to support a major fire in southeast Calgary,” the city said Tuesday in a news release.

“Thank you for stepping up in a meaningful way.

“Situations like this highlight how important your daily water-saving actions are to help ensure there’s enough capacity to respond to emergencies and maintain essential services.”

Water restrictions remain in place as reinforcement of the aged and ailing Bearspaw feeder main continues in the city’s northwest.

A total of nine segments of the line are being worked on.

A need for some additional repairs was discovered once crews opened up the ground.

Those repairs are being done alongside the planned reinforcements.

“Today, crews are installing rebar reinforcements around exposed pipe segments and concrete pouring will continue across all work areas throughout the week,” the city said.

“Two pipe segments at Sarcee Trail have already begun the concrete curing process.

“Once curing is complete, the next step will be backfilling around the reinforced pipe segments.”

Meanwhile, it’s asked people “flush toilets only when needed, keep showers to three minutes or less and run dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads.”

In December 2025, water billowed up from under the road in northwest Calgary for a second time.

This main break, near the Sarcee Trail/16 Avenue N.W. interchange, was just a few blocks from the last one in summer 2024.

After the first main break, a local state of emergency was declared.

The city carried out 29 repairs along the Bearspaw line, with the work completed by November 2024.

The second time, repairs took weeks, not months.

In the wake of the second main break and the realization of what state the Bearspaw line is in, efforts have been sped up to create a parallel line to take over.