Major Water Main Break in Bowness Area

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Slava

Is the water usage going to delay the repairs though? Like some of you saying we'll be boiling water all winter seem to imply that if we take too many 5 minute showers that they can't fix the pipe, which doesn't seem to make sense. I don't know much about the water system though, so maybe there's a reason I'm not aware of?

My basic understanding is that if we run the entire system dry, sediment and contaminants that are settled right now can get stirred up and we need to go on boil water advisory until the system is flushed per AHS requirements. We won't have enough fresh water to flush the entire system until spring run-off.

So TLDR, if we use up all the water we go onto boil water advisory until the spring.


Edit: Facts rather than my layman understanding

Using more than the safely allotted amount of water will eventually run underground water storage reservoirs dry, Bouchart added, which would cause a drop in water pressure.


Adequate water pressure is need to keep water safe.

Bouchart says there isn’t an immediate solution if the reservoirs do run dry.

“Refilling them won’t immediately solve the problem as the system would need to be flushed to remove any contaminants,” he explained. “This process requires a lot of treated water and at this time of the year, flows on the Elbow River naturally start to decrease and we start to rely on water stored in the Glenmore Reservoir to help us through the winter.

“If a boil water advisory were to occur, it could last several months until enough water is available in the spring to safely flush and clean the system.”

https://calgary.citynews.ca/2024/08/...ater-advisory/

“Without (pressure), contaminants can enter the system, potentially resulting in a boil-water advisory,” he said.
“A citywide boil water advisory is possible if multiple underground reservoirs are depleted.”

Refilling the reservoirs wouldn’t immediately solve the problem, Bouchart noted, as the system would need to be flushed to remove contaminants.

The problem with that is the sheer amount of treated water required to flush the entire system.

“If a boil-water advisory were to occur, it could last several months until enough water is available in the spring to safely flush and clean the system,” he said.

He explained that at this time of year, flows on the Elbow River naturally decrease, and the city relies on water stored in the Glenmore Reservoir to get through the winter.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...rom-businesses

[Dentoman]

IMO, the city loses buy in from people when they post the hyperbolic outcome of "boiling water through the winter" type of stuff. So many things would have to happen before this is even a remote possibility. Rec centres and pools are still open during the construction. Schools and post secondaries are starting again. I would surely hope the city took all of that into account before coming up with this repair plan and that they felt they could still handle everything even with less buy in than the first time.

[bizaro86]

That seems crazy to me. Wouldn't it be better to pick an isolated area and put that on boil water advisory and then be able to flush that system independently once the issue is resolved? Something like Strathmore or Airdrie must be self-contained systems, and would be small enough that the amount of water required to flush them later would be way, way less.

Hopefully people stop watering their grass again, but I'm not optimistic. I think it might have been a good idea to wait another week or two (hold off until September) when I suspect water use naturally goes down anyway. Hopefully they have all the storage tanks 100% topped up because I doubt they'll get as much compliance the second time around.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Generated a lot of dishes?

Two full loads. Four people, breakfast, lunch, supper, plus I made cookies, so that generated extra dishes.

We often run the dishwasher twice a day.

Also basically have an extra kid or two permanently at my house. I cook for six every supper because one or both of my kids always has a friend over.

I'm glad this didn't happen during COVID.

I had 11 people living in my house, my dishwasher essentially was never idle. It was insane.

But thats okay, I think the dishwasher is probably more efficient than hand-washing pots and pans in the sink.

I think back to watching my in-laws or my kids' friends hand-washing in the sink with water restrictions? That'd be a nightmare.

Who taught these people how to wash dishes? I was a dishwasher as one of my first jobs, get it done and get it done FAST.

Do we need to introduce 'Dishwashing' as a mandatory course in schools?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Don't think people care this time around, and buy in will be less. The messaging is poor, and why didn't they start to fix this earlier? Waiting for the all festivals and everything to finish up?

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Don't think people care this time around, and buy in will be less. The messaging is poor, and why didn't they start to fix this earlier? Waiting for the all festivals and everything to finish up?

I'd imagine it takes some time to work out the logistics for a project of this magnitude, not to mention procuring all the necessary materials and workers to handle everything. This is several concurrent projects rather than one repair like it was last time.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

IMO, the city loses buy in from people when they post the hyperbolic outcome of "boiling water through the winter" type of stuff. So many things would have to happen before this is even a remote possibility. Rec centres and pools are still open during the construction. Schools and post secondaries are starting again. I would surely hope the city took all of that into account before coming up with this repair plan and that they felt they could still handle everything even with less buy in than the first time.

The problem is, if you don't tell people the real consequences, they'll be shocked and outraged when the time comes. A lot of people are already in a perpetual state of faux outrage because... that's the world we live in right now.

The work needs to be done, and done now, regardless of whether people want to "buy in".

The same people who complained "why didn't they prevent this?" are now "why are they trying to prevent this from happening again?". Honestly can't win.

That being said, I do agree that people are less willing to change their habits this time, but that will be offset by less outdoor activities, less need for watering, etc. But I do expect that we'll be getting a collective guilt trip and wrist slap around Friday or Saturday when the weather gets hot again.

[Bill Bumface]

Edit: Way too slow and didn't realize it.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Don't think people care this time around, and buy in will be less. The messaging is poor, and why didn't they start to fix this earlier? Waiting for the all festivals and everything to finish up?

I think moving the repair into shoulder seasons makes sense from a water usage versus construction feasibility standpoint. Get past major outdoor watering and pools but before the ground freezes. Spring and fall seem like ideal times for this type of work.

[Fuzz]

I think we should just accept we'll be boiling water for awhile, because people.

[Calgary]

Do car washes get to stay open?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Calgary

Do car washes get to stay open?

So far, yes.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by GGG

I think moving the repair into shoulder seasons makes sense from a water usage versus construction feasibility standpoint. Get past major outdoor watering and pools but before the ground freezes. Spring and fall seem like ideal times for this type of work.

Maybe I misunderstood what is being repaired, late time it was the pipe this time is it the coils or whatever keeping them together and tight that are ripping apart?

[Calgary]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

So far, yes.

What a joke!

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

I'd imagine it takes some time to work out the logistics for a project of this magnitude, not to mention procuring all the necessary materials and workers to handle everything. This is several concurrent projects rather than one repair like it was last time.

Gave people a break too, plus you get past peak watering season without pushing it so far that they'd run against poor weather

It makes sense to me

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

The problem is, if you don't tell people the real consequences, they'll be shocked and outraged when the time comes. A lot of people are already in a perpetual state of faux outrage because... that's the world we live in right now.

The work needs to be done, and done now, regardless of whether people want to "buy in".

The same people who complained "why didn't they prevent this?" are now "why are they trying to prevent this from happening again?". Honestly can't win.

That being said, I do agree that people are less willing to change their habits this time, but that will be offset by less outdoor activities, less need for watering, etc. But I do expect that we'll be getting a collective guilt trip and wrist slap around Friday or Saturday when the weather gets hot again.

I don’t think that is a real consequence. You’d have rotating water outages and more extreme restriction measures well before there was any risk to a system wide boil water order. Mitigated potential outcomes and the impact of those mitigations should be publicized as opposed to the worst case unmitigated outcome.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Maybe I misunderstood what is being repaired, late time it was the pipe this time is it the coils or whatever keeping them together and tight that are ripping apart?

It's always been the coils snapping, as that is what holds the structure. The solution is to dump a bunch of concrete on top of and around the pipe, the hope being that will hold it together. So they just need to expose the exterior of the pipe at all these locations.


Now, will that work? I'm not a pipexpert. I suspect this is now turning into a giant game of whack-a-mole. I hope they have a better long term plan, as this seems like a very short term fix for only the spots they picked. There are probably still plenty of sections of pipe in decent shape, I'd just be incredibly surprised if they managed to identify every weak spot.

[GGG]

The long term fixes based on some of the stuff San Diego did appears to be line the pipe with steel or replace.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Calgary

What a joke!

When you look at how much water they actually use compared to some household tasks, the fact that many use recycled water, and that closing businesses has a much different, much more difficult set of consequences than not watering a lawn, I think it makes sense.

[BigNumbers]

Many carwashes are trucking in water from out of town as well, at their expense.