Calgary is getting up to $29 million from the federal government for one of several of its ongoing projects to upgrade or replace the city’s aging water system. The money from Ottawa will go towards phase one of the North Calgary Water Servicing project – a plan to construct a 22-kilometre feeder main and upgrade pump stations and reservoirs in the northwest. “As Calgarians, we’re well aware of what happens when that infrastructure hits an unanticipated pressure, and we’ve seen exactly how that can upend a summer, for example,” said Corey Hogan, the Liberal MP for Calgary Confederation. “What this investment does is it not just provides the redundancy that governments need to strive to do, but it also provides the foundation for the kind of growth that will lower the cost of houses and increase the size of our economy,” added Hogan, who is also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. The City of Calgary is covering the remaining $94 million price tag for the project. Construction is already underway on the first seven kilometres of the water pipeline. When the first stage is completed, it will increase water capacity by about 30 million litres per day. The full project, set to be done by 2029, will connect the main Bearspaw Water Treatment plant to the Northridge Feeder Main and deliver about 100 million litres of water per day. It is one of a handful of projects underway currently to add redundancy to Calgary’s beleaguered water system, which had two major feeder main breaks in the span of about 18 months. The city is also on track to have the Bearspaw South Feder Main project completed by the end of this year. While the projects represent significant steps in catching up on long-overdue infrastructure maintenance, the mayor says more work – and more money – is needed as Calgary continues to grow. “We have about a $50 billion capital need over the next 10 years here locally, but that said, the partnership with the federal government is going to allow us to make great strides to be able to deliver safe, clean, reliable drinking water for not just Calgarians, but the broader region,” said Mayor Jeromy Farkas. “We’re going to continue to be making the case for, not just Alberta’s fair share of funding from the federal government, but also Calgary’s fair share of investment from the provincial government.” Due to the water upgrade work, the city is expecting to require at least a week of outdoor water restrictions this month. At this point, water restrictions are planned to begin on Sept. 15.
