Major Water Main Break in Bowness Area

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yeah, if we crack 100 degrees Celsius then our water usage will be the least of our problems.

It will all evaporate!

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Speaking of the temps, why is the maximum daily temperature ranged from 0 to 100 degrees Celcius on that chart? 0-40 Celcius would suffice in Calgary. Or are they preparing for ultimate climate change?

Because if the right Y axis only went to 40 the yellow bars at the bottom of the chart would overlap with the blue line and make the whole thing unreadable.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yeah, if we crack 100 degrees Celsius then our water usage will be the least of our problems.

It’ll be cooler than Fuzz’s hot tub, and UCB won’t have to wear a sundress anymore.

[Bigtime]

Press conference underway with the findings of the Independent Review Panel for the 2024 break.

https://bsky.app/profile/adammacvica.../3mbu2jipdk224

[Locke]

Well I'm shipping two of my buddies back home, one to England and one to New York.

[Leondros]

https://livewirecalgary.com/2026/01/...pipe-failures/

Oh big shock - this was preventable. The independent review makes it pretty darn clear that risks around the feeder main were flagged repeatedly going back to the early 2000s, yet inspection and mitigation were deferred for years because the failure likelihood was underestimated and other priorities took precedence. Also flagged that no one really held accountability at the end of the day. I agree with the article - they should spin this management out to an Opco that can be held accountable and holds its own financial stewardship.

[Jimmy Stang]

^ I have to keep remembering to visit Live Wire Calgary more. They (he?) does good journalism with a bit more depth than some of the bigger "outlets".

So nuance and facts aside, this is still 100% Nenshi's fault, right?

[calf]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Does anyone know if time of usage makes a difference here? We're putting off laundry but likely will need to run a load in the next few days (at least before the pipe is fixed). Would it put less strain on the system if we set it to run at night? Wondering if this would apply to things like dishwashers too.

A shame that our water numbers have barely budged - it's really not that heavy of a lift for a couple of weeks.

My recollection from the last break is time of day doesn't matter a lot. The flow of water into the system is relatively static/cumulative, so if you use 100L at noon or at midnight, the effect is going to be 100L short at midnight.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Leondros

https://livewirecalgary.com/2026/01/...pipe-failures/

Oh big shock - this was preventable. The independent review makes it pretty darn clear that risks around the feeder main were flagged repeatedly going back to the early 2000s, yet inspection and mitigation were deferred for years because the failure likelihood was underestimated and other priorities took precedence. Also flagged that no one really held accountability at the end of the day. I agree with the article - they should spin this management out to an Opco that can be held accountable and holds its own financial stewardship.

There is always pressure from above to nix spends, always. A trillion meetings going over budgets and the experts recommending integrity projects but getting to that desired budget number and cutting year after year happens all the time. Apega should almost look into it.

[Leondros]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

^ I have to keep remembering to visit Live Wire Calgary more. They (he?) does good journalism with a bit more depth than some of the bigger "outlets".

So nuance and facts aside, this is still 100% Nenshi's fault, right?

Here's another article with the council angle:

https://livewirecalgary.com/2026/01/...r-main-review/

[Hot_Flatus]

^^This is not surprising given how poor the leadership and priorities of the city has been the last number of years. Even now, the city states they accelerated the new pipe design phase, completing it in only 8 months. Why on earth did work not begin on this last fall or even now then?! Instead we are hearing it will start no later than Spring 2026, which is possibly sometime in April or May depending on how that is to be taken. This is not an elective matter where you can just wait for optimal weather when more breaks are obviously inevitable now. Just like having a third treatment plant operational that has been put off for years so that we have redundancy in the system if pipes fail or plants need repairs, the city drags its feet on things that really matter.

Now we are left with another mess and stuck collectively trying to convince people to not abuse water (they shouldn't be doing it anyway) and having it fall on deaf ears until a real catastrophe occurs. Buckle up for the ride its going to be something until this all gets rectified in what I'm hearing is not going to be until well into 2028 or 2029 at this point.

[Looch City]

Yes but...bike lanes.

[curves2000]

The real corruption is that the billionaires get their hockey arenas paid for but regular Joe and Jane Calgary can't even touch themselves in the shower anymore, every minute counts! Pay more taxes I guess.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Leondros

Here's another article with the council angle:

https://livewirecalgary.com/2026/01/...r-main-review/

I've been pretty skeptical/critical of her, but I've really come around on Wyness

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said that Calgary is already in the midst of a water emergency. The message today shouldn’t be about the results of the report. She said it’s a distraction.

“I’m frustrated as a councillor that while the pipe is still broken and still being fixed, we are being distracted by our report when Calgarians and the messaging needs to be, please conserve water,” Wyness said.

Wyness said in the middle of a water emergency they received the report at 9 p.m. Tuesday, an expected to digest the contents to ask informed questions when the panel delivered the report during a 1:30 p.m. special meeting.

“This is poor governance, and this is not what Calgarians have demanded of council,” she told reporters.

I haven't watched today's meeting, but I think she makes a really good point. This report was supposed to go to Executive Committee on February 3, and then it presumably would be presented again at a regular council meeting. Which gives councillors two chances to ask questions, with time in between when the public may help inform further questions. That interval also let's admin (or in this case the panel) come back with further clarity based on questions at the committee presentation.

Has council now blown their load on this and discharged this panel? If so, it seems like an awfully big miss, especially when the recommendation is as big as it is. If this council is going to initiate the process towards a subsidiary they could have been a hell of a lot more informed by following the regular process instead of this rush job.



Also - I haven't read the whole report and while it seems more damning to city executive leadership than water senior leadership, I'm sure it's not totally rosy for them either. So while they're all working their asses off to keep the system running and get the current emergency fixed, they also get to go to bed tonight thinking about this report and knowing their long-term employment is on even shakier ground. So that's nice.

[Burninator]

People should watch a council meeting. It's pretty eye opening in my opinion. Reading an opinion article about council meetings is merely a cherry picked biased view of what happens. You'll also see how council makes City admin spin their wheels. And in my opinion waste a lot of time. Council always wants more time to review things, digest information, consider things and have admin send them summaries. It's a big part of why things take so long with government.

[Bigtime]

The usage dashboard hasn't updated with yesterdays stats yet...

[Leondros]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

I've been pretty skeptical/critical of her, but I've really come around on Wyness



I haven't watched today's meeting, but I think she makes a really good point. This report was supposed to go to Executive Committee on February 3, and then it presumably would be presented again at a regular council meeting. Which gives councillors two chances to ask questions, with time in between when the public may help inform further questions. That interval also let's admin (or in this case the panel) come back with further clarity based on questions at the committee presentation.

Has council now blown their load on this and discharged this panel? If so, it seems like an awfully big miss, especially when the recommendation is as big as it is. If this council is going to initiate the process towards a subsidiary they could have been a hell of a lot more informed by following the regular process instead of this rush job.



Also - I haven't read the whole report and while it seems more damning to city executive leadership than water senior leadership, I'm sure it's not totally rosy for them either. So while they're all working their asses off to keep the system running and get the current emergency fixed, they also get to go to bed tonight thinking about this report and knowing their long-term employment is on even shakier ground. So that's nice.

Hard to disagree with this. It is a large distraction right in the middle of the emergency itself. It’s like releasing the final crash report while the pilots are still flying the damaged plane. They’re busy landing it safely, but at the same time the findings are being read, names are being noted, and careers are being quietly weighed.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

The usage dashboard hasn't updated with yesterdays stats yet...

What time of day does the update usually happen? I haven't been watching too closely but did check today.

Edit: No sooner did I post that did it update. It looks like we used 507 ML yesterday, which is still "unsustainable" but trending slightly downwards.

Apparently the pipe is fixed and backfilling is underway. If I recall correctly, it took a couple of days to re-pressurize, check, and flush the lines last time. Unless, of course, they find more issues.

[Fuzz]

Nice it is going so quickly. If no issues, I'm predicting Tuesday water will be back on the menu.

[mrkajz44]

Pretty embarrassing that we can't seem to get into the green. I know our family has cut back a ton, so looking at the dashboard everyday and seeing basically no movement is discouraging. Like all you really need to do is half your shower time and don't flush when you pee and people literally cannot do that.

I wonder how the water supply alert will affect behaviour. I mentioned it to my wife last night when I noticed it and her first instinct was to fill up a bunch of containers with water "just in case". We obviously didn't do that, but I wonder how many people had the same thought and followed through with it.