One week after the City of Calgary issued a critical water supply alert following a catastrophic water main break, the city’s mayor said repair work on the feeder main has been paused after two workers were taken to hospital.
While delivering an on-camera statement Thursday morning, Mayor Jyoti Gondek warned the city is currently “at a place where we don’t have enough of a cushion for emergencies.”
“Those emergencies include use in hospitals and in firefighting,” she said. “There’s still a real threat that we could run out of water.
“I want you to think about a fire truck pulling up, facing a serious situation. They hook up to a hydrant and dribbles come out. This could be a reality if we don’t start conserving more water.”
Gondek began her address by bracing Calgarians for what her update would entail.
“I have difficult news to share with you this morning,” she said. “Two people were injured on site overnight. Both were taken to hospital and neither are in critical condition.
“Crews instituted an immediate safety stop, and work on the pipe has been halted. … We expect that repair work on the feeder main will not resume before this afternoon.”
Gondek added that the city has a team working with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety.
“The work that these crews have been doing has been invaluable in getting our water back to normal,” she said “And I want to thank all of them for their very hard work.
“Our hearts are heavy at the city this morning.”
David Duckworth, the City of Calgary’s chief administrative officer, said one of the injured workers is a city employee and the other is a contract employee.
He said the injuries occurred at about 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
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Stuart Brideaux said two adults were injured when “a chain failed and broke, striking them.”
He said one of the injured people was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition while the other was considered to be in stable condition.
The nature of the injuries was not disclosed.
“Inspection work is still able to continue, and we plan on having more information on the status of the safety investigation at our afternoon’s update,” Duckworth said.
A number of city officials are scheduled to speak about the ongoing situation at a news conference at 2 p.m. local time on Thursday.
Earlier this week, emergency officials offered a rough timeline for repair work on the feeder main and said they hoped to have that work completed on Thursday sometime.
Flushing and filling the pipe is expected to take another three days, and preparing to allow for water flow into the city’s reservoirs is expected to take a couple of more days.
As a result of the break last week, Calgarians across the entire city were told to stop using water outdoors and do their best to minimize indoor water use.
While Gondek said she knows many Calgarians have been trying to conserve water, those efforts need to be ramped up as “usage has been creeping up” every day since Saturday.
“Yesterday, our consumption rose again — this time by nine million litres,” she said. “That is taking us far over the safe threshold. And our supply is lower than it has been in the last few days.
“Calgarians, I need you to do more, and I know that’s frustrating for you to hear.”
Gondek said Calgarians are “all in this together.”
“I now must ask you to do more on your water conservation, to support those that are working to restore our safe water supply.”
Gondek reminded Calgarians that in addition to the Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions being in place, the city remains under a fire ban. That ban was put in place as officials aim to mitigate the risk of fire crews requiring large amounts of water for fires or other unforeseen circumstances until water services return to normal.
The massive water main break that led to the crisis occurred on the evening of June 5.
City officials have described the broken feeder main as a “critical water transmission line.” They note the damage has “severely impacted” Calgary’s water supply and the ability to move water across the city.
City officials have said they still do not know how the feeder main broke. Duckworth addressed that on Thursday.
“I know Calgarians still have many unanswered questions,” he said. “After every emergency, we conduct a thorough post-incident review to understand what happened and why, and what actions we can implement in the future.”
City officials have said the damaged line, which normally carries 60 per cent of the city’s water, was 49 years old when the break occurred. It was expected to last for 100 years. They added there was no indication from monitoring that the pipe was about to fail.
One official said physically inspecting the pipe would have meant crews would need to shut it down and dig it up, which would put stress on it and other pipes.
For the latest updates from the City of Calgary, you can follow the city’s social media channels or click on its website here.
For the latest Alberta Emergency Alerts, you can click on the province’s website here.
–With files from Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
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