{"id":548342,"date":"2026-03-20T05:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/548342\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:26:14","slug":"calgary-water-use-dips-back-into-the-risky-red-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/548342\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary water use dips back into the \u2018risky red zone\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest update on Calgary water use shows that residents used 501 million litres on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just over the 500 ml that the city claims is sustainable while the Bearspaw South Feeder Main is shut down for repairs.<\/p>\n

Any amount of daily water use above that limit has been referred to as \u201cthe risky red zone\u201d by city officials in an attempt to encourage Calgarians to limit their water use.<\/p>\n

The higher-than-recommended consumption comes after two days of water use below the recommended 500 million litres.<\/p>\n

The latest round of water restrictions\u00a0took effect on March 9<\/a> when city crews shut down the feeder main<\/a>, which normally supplies about 60 per cent of the city\u2019s water supply, for a series of repairs following two catastrophic failures in less than two years.<\/p>\n

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While the feeder main is out of service the city has been relying on the much smaller Glenmore water treatment plant to supply water to Calgary, as well as several\u00a0 surrounding communities, including Airdrie, Chestermere and the Tsuut\u2019ina Nation.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe repairs on several weakened sections of concrete along the existing Bearspaw South Feeder Main are being done at the same time the city is working to replace the entire feeder main with a new steel pipe that should be in place by the end of 2026.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSource: City of Calgary\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

News of the increased water use prompted the city\u2019s general manager of infrastructure services, Michael Thompson, to issue another plea for residents to conserve water, during an update on feeder main repairs<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe aim to save 25 liters of water per person each day,\u201d said Thompson.\u00a0 \u201cDishwashers use around 28 liters a cycle and a front load washing machine uses 62 liters, so even one less cycle a day can meet or exceed your daily target.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson said rebar work, to reinforce the weakened sections of the feeder main<\/a> has been completed, concrete pours and underway and backfilling the excavations around some sections of the pipe has begun.<\/p>\n

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\u201cReplacement of the valves at the Shaganappi pump station will be completed this weekend,\u201d said Thompson, who added that refilling on one section of the feeder main\u00a0 will also begin and will use about 5 million litres of water, said Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting on March 24th, we are beginning construction on the final microtunneling shaft on 16th Avenue at 44th Street,\u201d added Thompson.\u00a0 \u201cA construction work area will be set up in the parking lot on the south side of 16th avenue and will remain there until the work is completed in December. There will be intermediate traffic impacts<\/a> related to this worksite.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reinforcement work, along with the water restrictions, are expected to last another two weeks before the feeder main can be put back in service.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the city is continuing the parallel process of replacing the entire Bearspaw South Feeder Main<\/a> with a new steel pipe which is anticipated to be completed sometime in December.<\/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\t1:49
\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 city council approves $609M for feeder main, water system upgrades\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest update on Calgary water use shows that residents used 501 million litres on Wednesday. That\u2019s just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[163629,49,168537,48,295,84,714,66],"class_list":["post-548342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bearspaw-south-feeder-main","tag-ca","tag-calgary-water-restrictions","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-health","tag-politics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548342","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=548342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}