Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Calgarians need to keep reducing their water usage. While Calgary came in at the threshold on Wednesday of 480 million litres of water used, Gondek said water usage is creeping up. “So yesterday we used 480 million litres,” said Gondek at a Wednesday press conference. “On Saturday was when we did our best work.” On Saturday, Calgary used 440 million litres of water. Sunday saw Calgary use 457 million litres, and Monday was 472 million litres. Since Calgary has seen a slow creep up, she said this is bad news. She added it is critical Calgary stays under the threshold required to ensure all Calgarians have water. She applauded Calgarians for cutting down their water usage. Some of the actions they have taken are doing less laundry, flushing their toilets less often, and preparing meals that require minimal dishwashing. At the moment, she said they need to keep doing that for several more days so it can replace the broken section of the pipe, flush it out, and test water pressure and quality. If people continue to cut water usage, she predicted they can return to some sense of normalcy soon. She called "important that we learn to live with less water usage over the next several days."Gondek concluded by thanking Calgarians and people in the surrounding municipalities for the actions they have taken. She said they listened early, acted quickly, and their actions have made a major difference. Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Sue Henry encouraged Calgarians to double down on any water conservation methods they are using. “Even those small things add up,” said Henry. “We’ve heard from many businesses across the city and many different residents that provide those tips.” She said people and businesses should continue to send the City of Calgary these tips. When they are using water indoors, she called for them to do only the basics. City of Calgary Water Services Director Nancy Mackay said results from an internal inspection on the feeder main pipe have come in, and her team is assessing them. “We’ve now completed inspection of 1.8 kilometres of the pipe,” said Mackay. “We’ve completed our plans with Alberta Health Services and Environment and Protected Areas, which includes flushing and the next steps to be completed once the repair work is done.” At the moment, she confirmed there are crews out working on repairs on some of the access hatches. The new section of the pipe was disinfected before it was lowered into place. Gondek followed up by saying this event “has brought us to a point where we need to be very thoughtful about the age of all of our infrastructure, particularly when it comes to water.” “We are committed to providing safe, quality drinking water to all Calgarians, and this is just a reminder to us that we must listen to what our teams are telling us when they come to us at budget time, when they remind us that we need to make sure that we are committed to the work around monitoring and replacement of infrastructure," she said. "To date, council has been very good at ensuring that we take water treatment very seriously and that we're investing every time we can into ensuring the system is safe and reliable for every one." She said it has relied on infrastructure partnerships with the Alberta and Canadian governments. When it comes to water infrastructure, the funds flowing from the Canadian government to the Alberta government often go to smaller communities first because they cannot be supported through utility rates. Henry said on Tuesday current water restrictions will remain in place until next week. READ MORE: Calgary emergencies official says water restrictions to last one more weekAs she had mentioned before, Calgary is not out of the woods and should make water conservation part of people’s daily routines as crews continue to repair the pipe. “Your efforts have kept Calgary’s water use to a level that will keep Calgary’s water flowing to all homes and buildings in our city,” she said.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Calgarians need to keep reducing their water usage. While Calgary came in at the threshold on Wednesday of 480 million litres of water used, Gondek said water usage is creeping up. “So yesterday we used 480 million litres,” said Gondek at a Wednesday press conference. “On Saturday was when we did our best work.” On Saturday, Calgary used 440 million litres of water. Sunday saw Calgary use 457 million litres, and Monday was 472 million litres. Since Calgary has seen a slow creep up, she said this is bad news. She added it is critical Calgary stays under the threshold required to ensure all Calgarians have water. She applauded Calgarians for cutting down their water usage. Some of the actions they have taken are doing less laundry, flushing their toilets less often, and preparing meals that require minimal dishwashing. At the moment, she said they need to keep doing that for several more days so it can replace the broken section of the pipe, flush it out, and test water pressure and quality. If people continue to cut water usage, she predicted they can return to some sense of normalcy soon. She called "important that we learn to live with less water usage over the next several days."Gondek concluded by thanking Calgarians and people in the surrounding municipalities for the actions they have taken. She said they listened early, acted quickly, and their actions have made a major difference. Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Sue Henry encouraged Calgarians to double down on any water conservation methods they are using. “Even those small things add up,” said Henry. “We’ve heard from many businesses across the city and many different residents that provide those tips.” She said people and businesses should continue to send the City of Calgary these tips. When they are using water indoors, she called for them to do only the basics. City of Calgary Water Services Director Nancy Mackay said results from an internal inspection on the feeder main pipe have come in, and her team is assessing them. “We’ve now completed inspection of 1.8 kilometres of the pipe,” said Mackay. “We’ve completed our plans with Alberta Health Services and Environment and Protected Areas, which includes flushing and the next steps to be completed once the repair work is done.” At the moment, she confirmed there are crews out working on repairs on some of the access hatches. The new section of the pipe was disinfected before it was lowered into place. Gondek followed up by saying this event “has brought us to a point where we need to be very thoughtful about the age of all of our infrastructure, particularly when it comes to water.” “We are committed to providing safe, quality drinking water to all Calgarians, and this is just a reminder to us that we must listen to what our teams are telling us when they come to us at budget time, when they remind us that we need to make sure that we are committed to the work around monitoring and replacement of infrastructure," she said. "To date, council has been very good at ensuring that we take water treatment very seriously and that we're investing every time we can into ensuring the system is safe and reliable for every one." She said it has relied on infrastructure partnerships with the Alberta and Canadian governments. When it comes to water infrastructure, the funds flowing from the Canadian government to the Alberta government often go to smaller communities first because they cannot be supported through utility rates. Henry said on Tuesday current water restrictions will remain in place until next week. READ MORE: Calgary emergencies official says water restrictions to last one more weekAs she had mentioned before, Calgary is not out of the woods and should make water conservation part of people’s daily routines as crews continue to repair the pipe. “Your efforts have kept Calgary’s water use to a level that will keep Calgary’s water flowing to all homes and buildings in our city,” she said.
