City of Calgary leadership held a press conference on Wednesday to provide updates following Tuesday's water main break in Northwest Calgary. The break occurred on the Bearspaw South Feeder Main, the same main that burst in June 2024 and caused a widespread water outage in the city. "This is a catastrophic break along the same feeder main that broke in June 2024, on which we made a series of repairs," said Nancy Mackay, Calgary's director of Water Services.By early Wednesday morning, Calgary workers had managed to turn off the water flow and identify the location of the break.The break along Sarcee Trail and 16 Ave./Trans-Canada Highway N.W. on Tuesday night flooded Calgary streets, causing havoc for drivers and trapping some inside their cars. It affected more than 2,000 homes and 100 businesses, according to the City of Calgary. City officials are investigating to determine what caused the break and why it occurred. .Following the break, the City issued a boil-water advisory for the communities of Montgomery, Parkdale, and Point McKay."This includes water for drinking, water for brushing teeth, cleaning any raw foods, preparing infant formulas or juices or making ice water that you're using for bathing or laundering clothes does not need to be boiled," said Sue Henry, Chief of the Calgary Emergency Services Management Agency.The City of Calgary also declared Stage 4 water restrictions on outdoor water use and has asked residents of Calgary and neighbouring municipalities to make a concerted effort to conserve water at home."Please limit your showers to three minutes. Flush toilets only when necessary. Run dishwashers and washing machines only when they're full," Mackay said. "They sound like small things. They make a massive difference for us during this time."Despite the water restrictions, Calgarians do not need to cancel their New Year's Eve celebrations. "Calgarians should have the confidence to be able to celebrate 2026, so to be clear, New Year's Eve is not cancelled," said Mayor Jeromy Farkas. "We can still proceed, but we have to do so in a way that recognizes the constraints that Calgarians exist in right now.".City officials claim that the water line was functioning normally prior to the break, and that, using insights gained from the 2024 break, they addressed issues and responded as quickly as possible.Farkas, however, maintains that even though it was functioning normally and there were no signs it would happen, that does not excuse what happened, especially in light of the 2024 break."It's not acceptable for myself or my council colleagues," said Farkas. "It's not acceptable for administration. It's not acceptable to Calgarians, and that's why we're taking needed action."Farkas, who was elected Calgary's mayor in October, says the responsibility to act rests with the city council."As Mayor, public safety squarely lands on my shoulders, collectively as a city council, and that's why we're taking the needed action to ensure that our city administration is held accountable, that we are accelerating as fast as humanly possible, the ultimate build out and the replacement of this pipe," Farkas said..On Dec. 16, the City of Calgary announced it would proceed with the Bearspaw South Feeder Main Improvements Project to build a new pipe to replace the current one, but completion will not occur until 2028."We have to fix the pipe, and until we completely replace the pipe, this is a ticking time bomb that Calgarians will continue to live with," Farkas said.Despite the time required to upgrade and replace the faulty line, Farkas attempted to assure Calgarians that he and the city council are not going to stand idle while waiting."We are much more prepared this time around, but you can rest assured, none of my council colleagues ran on being satisfied with the status quo," Farkas said."The status quo is not acceptable for any of us. It's not acceptable for administration, and it's certainly not acceptable to the public, and we're taking immediate action."
