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Calgary’s recently elected council has been put to the task of amending Calgary’s water infrastructure. This follows the emergency rescue situation caused by flooding from a feeder main burst in the last few days of 2025.

This feeder main also broke in 2024 in a different location, causing a state of emergency. An independent review of the city’s processes was presented to the public this week, designed to infer what caused the initial break in 2024.

“While the system has historically delivered safe and reliable drinking water, the Panel concludes that long-standing pressures – aging infrastructure, rapid population growth and chronic underinvestment – have steadily eroded resilience over the last two decades.”

Previous Calgary administrations, notably under Mayors Gondek and Nenshi, prioritized funding of vanity projects and immigration, increasingly stressing a neglected infrastructure system to the point of collapse.

Calgary is now being provided treated water through only one of our two treatment plants, as the feeder main break cut off the Bearspaw treatment plant. The Glenmore treatment plant remains, operating at triple normal operating speed to compensate.

Current consumption levels prevent the city from sustaining ideal water reservoir levels, causing concern of larger system issues. The risk of other failures while the system is overly stressed by the current feeder main repairs, could spell a city-wide disaster relief operation. They won’t inform Calgarians as to what contingency plans lay in waiting if the situation gets worse.

Taps could potentially run dry for Calgarians and the city seems unable to act. Instead, new Mayor Farkas tells us this will be the norm for years to come, until a full replacement and redundancy measures are implemented. Water shutoffs for repairs are expected to cause ongoing water restrictions alongside the risk of other system failures, again, for years to come.