Work begins on new water feeder main for north Calgary

Crews are now busy building a new feeder main to service north Calgary residents, a project that officials say will create redundancy in case of emergencies, like when the Bearspaw feeder main broke in June 2024.

Work has begun on a new critical infrastructure project that officials say will help provide clean, safe and reliable water to communities in north end of Calgary.

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The North Calgary Water Servicing project (NCWS) involves the construction of a 22-kilometre-long feeder main as well as 10 support facilities such as pump stations, underground reservoir expansions, tie-ins to existing infrastructure and connections to the Bearspaw Water Treatment plant.

Officials call the NCWS “a key step” in the city’s development.

“It not only ensures a reliable supply of clean, safe drinking water for communities in the northwest, but also strengthens our overall water system by adding critical redundancy. This means we can continue delivering essential water services even when existing feeder mains or pump stations are out of service in the event of emergency or planned repairs,” said Melanie Gray, senior project engineer with utilities delivery and the program manager of the project.

In 2024, the failure of the Bearspaw feeder main forced Calgarians and residents of outlying communities to cut their water usage for two months because the city needed to rely on just one feeder main.

The main will run north from the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant near Stoney Trail and Nose Hill Drive, crossing under Crowchild Trail up to 144 Avenue N.W. and then connecting to the Northridge Feeder Main at 144 Avenue and 14 Street N.W.

Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2028, while the associated facilities are estimated to be done by the end of 2029.

When fully completed, the new feeder main will deliver 100 million litres of drinking water per day to existing and future communities in northwest Calgary.

Once a new treatment plant is built - a project that is still in its design phase - that capacity will increase to 410 million litres per day.