Calgary mayor delivers stern warning about water use ahead of Sunday update

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek did not mince words when speaking to reporters Sunday morning about the city’s ongoing feeder main break repair after visiting the Bowness Community Association and area businesses.

Ahead of a 4 p.m. press conference about the water emergency, Gondek said officials need to do a better job at providing updates in plain language and outlining exactly what the situation means for Calgarians.

“There’s still people out there that think this is some sort of a joke. Some think it’s a conspiracy theory. It is not,” she said.

“If we don’t practice water conservation, we will run out of water — not because it doesn’t exist at the treatment plant. We can’t get it from there to the reservoirs until this piece of infrastructure is fixed.”

Water supply concerns were first triggered Wednesday night by a massive feeder main break in the Montgomery neighbourhood of northwest Calgary, which triggered a boil-water advisory for residents of Bowness.

The advisory remains in effect, as does a water supply alert for Airdrie, Strathmore and Chestermere.

Water wagons have been set up in various parts of Bowness to support residents.

Calgarians living elsewhere in the city do not need to boil their water, but are still being asked to conserve water.

Officials have described the broken feeder main, which carries water from the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant, as a “critical” water transmission line.

The damage has “severely impacted” Calgary’s water supply and the city’s ability to move water.

The city has said the city’s Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant usually distributes 500 megalitres of water each day but is currently distributing 130 megalitres.

On Sunday, Gondek said fixing the broken feeder main, located on 16th Avenue NW, is