CALGARY — An additional $29 million is being poured into the $533 million already approved by the City of Calgary for the North Calgary Water Servicing (NCWS).
The project is the first phase of construction of a new 22-kilometre feeder main and attended support stations from the Bearspaw water treatment plant in Bowness to north Calgary, eventually supplying more than 100 million litres of water per day when it's fully finished.
Stage 1 of the phase includes four major components, involving the construction of seven kilometres of linear feeder main that will connect two existing reservoirs, Top Hill and Big Hill East, providing redundancy for both facilities, according to the city.
Redundancy will allow the continuation of water services when existing feeder mains or pump stations are out of service in the event of planned or emergency repairs.
Additionally, upgrades to Mountain View Pump Station will add pumping capacity allowing the city to provide an additional 30 million litres of water per day to pressure zones in North Calgary and surrounding communities associated with increased population growth.
The new injection of cash comes from the federal Build Communities Strong Fund and was announced on Tuesday by Corey Hogan, parliamentary secretary to the minister of energy and natural resources and member of parliament for Calgary Confederation.
"Today’s investment will help provide redundancy and additional pumping capacity to ensure Calgarians have reliable access to water services,” said Hogan at a media scrum at the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant. “This project is essential to unlocking opportunities for future development and meeting demand as northwest Calgary grows.”
The city says there will likely be more water restrictions this month as the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant may need to be taken offline for about a week/ City officials said more information on restrictions will be released next week.
Michael Thompson, acting chief operating officer at the city’s water utility said the federal funds are “an important investment in the North Calgary Water Servicing Project.
“It significantly increases drinking water capacity for north Calgary while strengthening the overall water system through critical redundancy,” said Thompson. “This investment contributes to a project that will help ensure a reliable supply of clean, safe drinking water for current and future generations of Calgarians.”
