CALGARY — Officials in Calgary say they aim to begin easing restrictions on water use by early next week, but say conservation efforts are set to return in spring when pipe fixes that can’t be done during winter will start.
Michael Thompson, Calgary’s general manager of infrastructure services, said a failed section of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main has been replaced and work to pump the new pipe with enough water to fill nine Olympic-sized swimming pools is underway. Then the water is to go through quality testing.
“Seven kilometres of pipe was emptied and refilling it takes approximately 22 million litres,” Thompson said during a Saturday news conference.
“The question is when can we start to ease the current water conservation, and we are hopeful that will be early next week.”
But officials said there is no guarantee crews will not find another break before the easing of water restrictions begins.
“Keep saving water for just a few more days. We’re not out of the woods yet,” Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said.
“This is the riskiest, most critical moment of the repair.”
Officials also announced Saturday that additional reinforcement of the pipe will be needed in the spring, and that further restrictions on water use will be required then.
Thompson said that work is being done later rather than now because snowmelt will be available to fill reservoirs.
Neither Farkas nor Thompson provided further details on the looming restrictions.
Officials have been pleading with Calgary’s roughly 1.6 million residents to conserve water since Dec. 30, when the Bearspaw South Feeder Main, which supplies 60 per cent of treated water for the city, burst for a second time in about a year and a half.
The last rupture in the summer of 2024 prompted months of water restrictions, advisories and the invocation of a state of emergency.
The city’s water-use dashboard shows Calgarians have been regularly smashing past the 485-million-litre daily threshold the city has set to ensure there’s enough water left for emergency services in its latest water main woes.
Sue Henry, chief of Calgary’s Emergency Management Agency, announced Saturday that Calgarians used 504 million litres of water the day before.
“We’re continuing to ask everyone who relies on our water system to save 25 to 30 litres per person, per day,” she said.
She said those conservation efforts could include flushing less, taking shorter showers, and only running dishwashers and doing laundry when the machines are full.
“Every litre saved helps keep water available for our homes, for our hospitals and for emergency response like firefighting,” she said.
Thompson said as water continues to fill the new pipe, residents might notice a temporary drop in water pressure, a strong chlorine smell or cloudy water.
“I want to assure anyone seeing this in their water that these changes are all normal and should pass within a couple of days of regular water use. The water is safe to drink,” Thompson said.
Farkas said he understands some Calgarians are frustrated.
“But I want Calgarians to know that we are moving at lightning-speed to get this pipe back online and to build a generational replacement that will solve this problem once and for all,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 10, 2026.
— By Fakiha Baig in Edmonton
The Canadian Press
