A damning report is coming to the Calgary audit committee on Thursday that says the city’s capital infrastructure is at extensive risk.
It’s an increasing trend, exceeding the city’s desired risk appetite, and ongoing attention and robust response are required, says The City’s Principal Corporate Risks (PCRs) report.
The risks will increase.
“As Calgary’s growth fluctuates, the city will face challenges in maintaining service quality, housing affordability, equitable benefits of growth, and ensuring that its growth pattern is aligned with long-term planning goals and customer expectations,” reads the report.
“Factors contributing to this risk include migration, demographic shifts, housing supply, funding options, and pressure to adjust essential services to changing needs and expectations.”
“If these challenges are not addressed, it could result in increased social inequality, reduced quality of life, strained services, and operational inefficiencies, with broader financial, social, and reputational consequence,
Essentially there are billions of dollars worth of infrastructure as much as 75 years old that hasn’t been maintained as well as it should have.
The report adds infrastructure funding and maintenance has been delayed, had decreased levels of service or failure, such as the Bearspaw South Feeder Main on December 30 due to competing priorities.
The report says 11% of the city's infrastructure assets including water infrastructure, IT assets, fleet, buildings, bridges, and roads, are in poor to very poor condition and have a higher risk of failure.
“There is an urgent need to understand which critical infrastructure assets are in poor or very poor condition and if they are a single point of failure within the system,” says the report.
The Bearspaw Feeder Main is well beyond ‘very poor condition.’
“The Bearspaw Feeder Main is at its end of life and failing,” says the report. “There is no redundancy in the water system for this feeder main and an urgent need to replace the Bearspaw Feeder Main to provide reliable water treatment and distribution to Calgarians and regional customers. There is also an urgent need to assess and understand other single points of failure within our critical infrastructure systems.”
The report notes many city-owned assets are aging, with some exceeding their expected lifespans. Deferred maintenance and limited capital investment are accelerating deterioration.
One factor, says the report, is a labour shortage.
“A vacancy rate in the Alberta construction industry is trending upwards indicating that labour shortage pressures persist,” it says. “Internally, the city is facing challenges in attracting and retaining skilled workers, especially in technical and construction roles.”
Other factors include the increased workload due to city growth, infrastructure demands and emergency response, which are straining existing teams and reducing delivery capacity.”
Costs and a lack of funding are also a factor adding to the extensive risk label.
“Inflation, rising construction costs, and insufficient funding from other orders of government are widening the gap between available resources and capital needs,” says the report. “High-priority projects are competing for limited funds, and policy changes at the provincial and federal levels are adding uncertainty to future funding streams.”
Calgary’s population growth means new infrastructure will be required earlier than expected.
“This requires the city to accelerate the delivery of capital projects to the expected level of services across asset types,” says the report, which identifies strategies going forward, including:
Urgently respond to any additional Bearspaw South Feeder Main breaks and be prepared to concurrently deliver preventative maintenance at prioritized pipe locations.
Accelerate the procurement and delivery process for a steel pipe that will duplicate (provide redundancy for) the Bearspaw South Feeder Main.
Develop recommendations on an implementation plan and resource requirements for the recommendations outlined in the Bearspaw South Feeder Main Independent Review Panel Final Report.
The report also recommends increased and regular asset inspections; condition assessments; and performance analytics, “with a focus on critical infrastructure, to identify single points of failure and systems lacking redundancy and to guide capital allocations and safety investments, and support infrastructure decisions.” it reads.
Once the audit committee reviews the report on Thursday, it will be forwarded to council’s executive committee meeting on February 3.
