William D. Marriott is a retired economist who specialized in public policy analysis of the oil and gas industry.Now that the Bearspaw water issues have faded a bit, what are the Calgary city council’s next moves? The recently released Kiefer Report (read summary on first 10 pages) was not just a harsh condemnation of the (lack of) decisions coming out of City Hall, but also of the very systems underpinning those decisions. It was brutal in exposing a depth of incompetence bordering on wilful negligence. And it was an indictment against decades of bad governance by politicians and management by the bureaucracy.Yet the only tangible decision thus far is to fast-track the scheduled replacement of the ailing pipe. Council must do better.Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas certainly proved to be an effective communicator, clearly in charge of the issues, but needs to drop his “If you need to blame someone, blame me” shtick. It failed to resonate. Calgarians don’t want to blame, they want better performance going forward. And this will depend on big changes to management procedures and systems.Fewer folks tuned into the daily “emergency” press conferences because they saw the exact same people saying the exact same things we heard eighteen months ago. We barely heeded the call to conserve, only reaching “sustainable” water use on one day out of sixteen. Goodwill is evaporating. Unless this public cynicism is curbed, it may have serious implications.Credibility can be restored by addressing the following at a minimum. .First, does the bureaucracy function at all, and if so, do the bureaucrats work for the politicians or the other way around?The Kiefer Report didn’t even bother trying to get to the bottom of this. They recommended that water works be operationally separated from the existing bureaucratic structure and given its own governance and management process. The report’s unstated judgement was clear: if Calgarians are generally OK with the ambiguity of the administration’s roles and processes, then that is their business. However, when it comes to providing an essential life-giving service, they shouldn’t indulge the disruptions of the latest DEI or other progressive decision-making fads.We are still waiting for a decision on this recommendation, although Premier Danielle Smith, who is not a fan of big bureaucracies, has probably indicated her preference. David Duckworth, who has been tasked with sorting this out, will likely be happy to still be in charge of half a bureaucracy rather than none at all, particularly if Smith made it clear that any additional water funding from the province depends on cleaning up the administration.Second, the estimated 20-25% water loss due to leaks in the system. This is unacceptable and must be addressed. A detailed assessment of this problem is still waiting for the light of day. But even if half the leaks could be fixed in an expedited time frame, they would reduce the impacts of any future catastrophic failure.Third, the City has promised summer water restrictions as more band-aid repairs are planned for the sick pipe. Calgarians may rebel at this, particularly the criminal penalties and the encouragement of informants. The length of the repair program and its efficacy are both unknown. A better option may be to just cross our fingers and deal with the next failure if it arises. City crews can now turn around a repair in two weeks, which is far better than an 8-10 week disruption for no appreciable gain. Why suffer for two plus months if the new line will be in service a few weeks later? Seems a bit draconian.Finally, the Council needs to immediately institute “segmented financial statements” as recommended by Kiefer that reveal the actual costs and revenues of running the water works. This can be done for calendar 2026, whether the water works become a separate organization or not.If the Council merely caves to the old adage “never let a good crisis go to waste” and ups the water rates, Calgarians may stage a revolt and refuse to pay their bills.William D. Marriott is a retired economist who specialized in public policy analysis of the oil and gas industry.
