{"id":395440,"date":"2026-01-08T05:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395440\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:20:14","slug":"city-of-calgary-aware-of-water-main-problems-since-2004-says-independent-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395440\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Calgary aware of water main problems since 2004, says independent report"},"content":{"rendered":"

An independent report<\/a> into the June 2024 failure of the Bearspaw feeder main<\/a> is recommending significant action to fix several decades-old systemic issues within the city\u2019s water system that resulted in the rupture as Calgary\u2019s mayor vows to act on each of the panel\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The independent report was commissioned after the rupture forced the city to spend millions of dollars on emergency repairs and implement weeks of strict water conservation measures.<\/p>\n

The findings of the six-member independent panel were supposed to be released later this year, but the release was expedited after the Bearspaw feeder main ruptured for a second time on Dec. 30.<\/p>\n

Although the report was written prior to the pipe\u2019s second failure, it noted the recommendations remain relevant.<\/p>\n

The Bearspaw feeder main carries 60 per cent of the city\u2019s drinking water, and the report found the line will \u201ccontinue to be unreliable\u201d no matter how many repairs are conducted; the report noted it must be replaced.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cHad we perhaps recognized this problem sooner, we could have averted some of the negative implications that have arisen,\u201d said Siegfried Kiefer, a retired ATCO executive who was tapped to chair the independent panel. \u201cWe have a piece of critical infrastructure that is failing us, and we need to move as quickly as we can to repair it and fix the organization so that it doesn\u2019t let itself fall into that state of disrepair again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see from the post-incident reporting that was done at that time, that the city was alerted to the fact that this vintage of pipe had issues around corrosion and failure as a result of the soil chemistry surrounding the pipe and it managing to penetrate the concrete barriers to actually embrittle the coil wrapping the pipe,\u201d Kiefer told reporters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Health
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

The report noted subsequent studies and assessments \u201crepeatedly confirmed the risk\u201d to the Bearspaw feeder main, and despite \u201crepeated identification of this risk, the city prioritized other \u201ccritical needs and initiatives\u201d and deferred inspection, monitoring and risk mitigation on the Bearspaw line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis deferral was a function of underestimated likelihood of failure, not appreciating the significant impact of a failure, emphasis on other priorities and occasional periods of operating budget constraints,\u201d the panel said in its report.<\/p>\n

Kiefer noted investments in response to city growth often \u201covertook\u201d resiliency and redundancy investments \u201cthat should have been undertaken at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The Bearspaw feeder main was also designated for inspection in 2017, 2020, and 2022, but the report found none occurred.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Receive<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n

The report found the issues are a symptom of \u201csystemic gaps\u201d uncovered by the feeder main\u2019s failure, including external pressures, risk and asset integrity processes, ineffective management, and a lack of effective governance oversight.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:15
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalgary drivers trapped, work underway after another water main break\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas told reporters city council is \u201cduty-bound\u201d to execute the panel\u2019s list of recommendations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot cherry pick, we cannot choose. The work has been done for us,\u201d Farkas said. \u201cWe need to fund proper maintenance, we need to fund essential infrastructure like it is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

The independent panel recommends the city\u2019s management structure be changed so there is a chief executive officer of the utility who is responsible to a board of directors, similar to the management structure of the water utilities in other Canadian cities.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major utility. It\u2019s one of the largest in Canada, $3 billion in assets, $1 billion a year in revenue. This is not an inconsequential operation. And so it needs to have a dedicated management team focused solely on operating the water utility and making the right investment decisions for it,\u201d added Kiefer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tRelated News\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018No guarantee\u2019 Bearspaw South Feeder Main will not break again: City of Calgary\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tFailure of Bearspaw feeder main was assessed as \u2018low probability\u2019 ahead of rupture\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

It also recommends an overhaul of the city\u2019s risk management and asset integrity processes.<\/p>\n

The report stated the water utility \u201clacked traditional planning safeguards\u201d required for critical infrastructure, as the city\u2019s last Asset Management Plan in 2017 did not include an integrated resource plan, which left the system \u201cwithout coordinated, long-term renewal and redundancy planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its findings also included an environment of \u201cunclear accountability and a culture of risk tolerance and decision deferral.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report doesn\u2019t place blame on any one individual or city council, Kiefer said, because management was underinformed of the implications of decision-making due to a weak process that was not corrected.<\/p>\n

However, the city\u2019s chief administrative officer, David Duckworth, said he personally takes responsibility and accountability for the services the city delivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take this very seriously. We apologize to Calgarians for getting to where we are. We don\u2019t want to be where we are,\u201d Duckworth said. \u201cWe have a plan to get out of this emergency as quickly as possible and build a resilient water system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Among the shorter-term recommendations, the report said the entire length of the Bearspaw feeder main is corroded and should be replaced with a new steel pipe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made recommendations to accelerate the install of that piece of infrastructure as quickly as we possibly can, which is an emergency situation,\u201d said Kiefer.<\/p>\n

While the report does not provide any cost estimate, he said the project will have a lifespan of 50 plus years, so the cost to Calgarians can be amortized \u201cover a very long period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farkas told reporters he is pushing for \u201csparing no expense\u201d for the replacement line, which is set to begin construction this spring.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:51
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWork underway to twin Calgary feeder main that ruptured\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Calgary city council went late into the evening asking questions of the panel on its fundings as well as city administration during a special meeting Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

At least one city councillor took issue with the timing of the report\u2019s release, as the city continues to grapple with water supply challenges amid emergency repairs to the feeder main.<\/p>\n

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said the focus should be getting the feeder main back into operation before determining what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the pipe is still broken and still being fixed, we are being distracted by a report,\u201d Wyness told reporters. \u201cThe messaging needs to be \u2018please conserve water.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Farkas, however, said the report\u2019s release Wednesday was \u201ccompletely appropriate,\u201d and urged Calgarians to reduce water consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we know about this problem, we need to share it with Calgarians so that we can rally together to be able to solve it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In its daily update on the situation, the city said Calgarians used 511 million litres of water on Tuesday, which is above the target zone of 485 million litres; it\u2019s the fourth day in a row city water consumption surpassed that target.<\/p>\n

The situation prompted the province to issue an emergency alert Wednesday due to water supply levels remaining in a \u201ccritical state.\u201d<\/p>\n

City council is being asked to direct administration to return to them in February with an implementation plan for the panel\u2019s recommendations, including resource requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An independent report into the June 2024 failure of the Bearspaw feeder main is recommending significant action to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[165678,49,162170,48,46,84,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-395440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-bearspaw-feeder-main","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-calgary-water-main-break","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}