Water use in Calgary has stayed below the city’s target for five days in a row. Stage 4 water restrictions are in place as work to fix the beleaguered Bearspaw South feeder main continues. The city says water demand needs to stay below 500 million litres per day to continue providing reliable water service, maintain enough water for fighting fires and keep the water system working well. On Saturday, water demand was 483 million litres, and on Sunday it was 487 million litres. “We’re incredibly grateful for everything you’re doing to keep your water demand low at this critical time,” said Michael Thompson, the City of Calgary’s acting chief operating officer of water utility, at a Monday news conference. Crews are working to connect the new Bearspaw South feeder main to the city’s existing water system, one of the final steps before the new pipe is finished. Thompson says last week’s focus was safely shutting down and draining the existing Bearspaw South feeder main and preparing the construction sites for the work ahead. Draining is on track to be completed Monday. Excavation has started at some of the connection sites, where the new pipe will be connected to the water system. Beginning Thursday, crews will start working 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the 89 Street N.W. location to connect to the new feeder main. This work is expected to take about two weeks. Excavation is also set to begin along Parkdale Boulevard on Monday as part of repair work on sections of a smaller feeder main. Restrictions in place While work on the Bearspaw South feeder main continues, no outdoor water use is permitted, including the flooding of outdoor rinks. Residents and businesses are also urged to reduce their indoor water use. Three ways citizens are advised to take to reduce their water usage include: Calgarians aren’t the only ones being asked to reduce their water use — the plea applies to those in Airdrie, Chestermere, Strathmore and Tsuut’ina Nation. The water restrictions will be in place when Calgary hosts the Grey Cup on Nov. 15 — and during the Cenovus Energy 2026 Grey Cup Festival from Nov. 11 to 15. Unrelated incident in Edgemont During Monday’s news conference, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said an unrelated leak was found last week in Edgemont. Farkas said the leak was on a different feeder main located on Edgemont Drive near Edgemont Boulevard N.W. “Water supply to neighboring homes and businesses has not been affected,” he said. Thompson said crews worked throughout the weekend developing plans to repair the feeder main. “We will take that feeder main out of service this week and begin the repair,” he said. “While the Edgemont feeder main is out of service, the overall water system will have less redundancy, and we will be at a greater risk of being unable to move water should another issue arise.” Thompson said while it is an unexpected complication, they don’t foresee any widespread impacts. “This is an example of why it is so important that for the next three and a half weeks, we stay in the green zone with our water usage. “We never know when we will experience a problem in the system, and staying in the green zone allows us the ability to deal with any other issues as they arise.”
