Ruptured Calgary Feeder Main Won’t Run At Full Capacity Even After Repairs

City of Calgary officials are informing nan Bearspaw feeder main is astatine nan extremity of its life, but it remains unclear what that could mean for recurring h2o conservation efforts until it’s replaced.

Last week, nan Bearspaw feeder main, which carries 60 per cent of Calgary’s drinking water, suffered its 2nd “catastrophic” break successful little than 2 years.

Emergency repairs are underway on nan ruptured tube successful northwest Calgary, arsenic nan caller conception of tube has been delivered to nan tract and installation of nan tube will commencement aft an inspection is completed.

Once h2o starts flowing done nan statement again, City of Calgary Infrastructure Services wide head Michael Thompson said it will request to beryllium “run differently” arsenic officials cannot guarantee nan tube won’t rupture again.

“We’ll person to tally it astatine little pressures and pinch little h2o flowing done it,” he told reporters Monday. “That’s why it’s captious that we each prevention h2o arsenic we get done this first repair.”

Ron Hugo, head of nan University of Calgary’s Pipeline Engineering Centre, said nan move is modular believe erstwhile location is harm connected a line.

“That successful move reduces nan operating unit and successful move that puts little accent connected nan tube itself,” he said

As a consequence of nan break, Calgary is presently nether Stage 4 h2o restrictions which prohibits each outdoor h2o use, and Calgarians are being asked to travel voluntary conservation measures for illustration limiting nan magnitude of showers.

Thompson said early h2o conservation plans will beryllium discussed successful nan future.

“They person to run astatine a little pressure, truthful little reliance connected nan Bearspaw feeder main and that puts unit connected nan Glenmore Reservoir and nan distribution from there,” Hugo said. “So we will request to unrecorded pinch this for a longer long of time.”

However, metropolis officials warned h2o restrictions are apt moving guardant owed to ongoing repairs to nan feeder main.

The h2o statement will request to beryllium unopen down successful nan outpouring and nan autumn moving guardant “to behaviour further inspections and repairs,” until nan tube is replaced, Thompson said Monday.

City officials are still determining wherever those repairs will beryllium needed utilizing information and accusation collected from nan existent feeder main break to find areas that require reinforcement, akin to nan actual encasement activity conducted successful nan summertime of 2024.

City crews are expected to statesman surveying connected Wednesday astir  16 Avenue N.W. and 33 Avenue N.W.

“What it shows is that nan statement has travel to nan extremity of its useful lifespan, and truthful they person to urgently look astatine replacing nan line,” Hugo told Global News.

Construction connected nan first shape of replacing nan Bearspaw feeder main, betwixt nan Shaganappi Pump Station and 73 Street N.W. connected nan westbound broadside of nan Bow River, was already scheduled to commencement this spring.

The 2nd shape continues from 73 Street N.W. to 89 Street N.W., pinch “a imaginable hold to nan Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant.”

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The task will switch nan six kilometres of feeder main tube that has been deteriorating since nan rupture backmost successful June 2024.

“We had already accelerated nan replacement project, completing nan creation successful 8 months alternatively of 2 years,” Thompson said Monday. “We now request to bring an accrued urgency to this replacement project.”

The task is portion of $1.1 cardinal successful caller metropolis funding for respective h2o infrastructure projects including a feeder main moving north from nan Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant arsenic good arsenic caller feeder mains successful southbound and northeast Calgary.

City crews scheme to usage micro-tunnelling connected nan first shape of nan replacement project, owed to “existing tube alignment and important crossings” adjacent 16 Avenue, nan Bow River, Sarcee Trail and nan CPKC obstruction line.

Matti Siemiatycki, head of nan Infrastructure Institute astatine nan University of Toronto, told Global News nan replacement task needs to move guardant pinch “warp speed.”

“Every reappraisal needs to beryllium taken by saying really tin you do that successful half nan time? How tin you make this spell faster? Because nan impacts are truthful severe,” he said.

“Given nan urgency, nan severity and nan costs of this existent situation, it can’t stand, and each avenue should beryllium looked at.”

City officials said nan scheme was to person nan Bearspaw feeder main’s placement completed by 2028, but location are plans to accelerate nan timeline.

“We are going to spell faster,” Thompson said. “We don’t cognize what that looks for illustration yet. We person teams moving connected it and we’re going to get this caller tube installed arsenic accelerated arsenic we tin truthful nan metropolis is not susceptible going forward.”