Alberta government to review Calgary watermain breaks, demands documents

CALGARY, ALTA — The Alberta government has launched a review of Calgary’s watermain ruptures and is demanding the city turn over reams of documents dating back two decades within the next two weeks.

Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams, in a letter to the city posted on social media Wednesday, says it’s about making sure Calgary’s 1.6 million residents have a safe and reliable water system.

He says while the city has been working diligently to fix the latest break of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main, the province — as the legal entity overseeing municipalities — has a responsibility and a duty to act.

“I am concerned about implications for the capacity of municipal services and the confidence that Calgarians may have in the city’s ability to sustain this essential service,” Williams said in the letter to Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

“I believe residents of Calgary and neighbouring municipalities that depend on the city for water services have valid concerns that such an incident may recur.”

Premier Danielle Smith said on social media later Wednesday that the review will let the government “get answers, fix any gaps and help councils make better long-term decisions for the people they serve.”

“Albertans expect municipalities to use tax dollars wisely and keep critical infrastructure in good repair,” she said.

Farkas told reporters Wednesday that he had recently met with Williams and that he had no issues working with the province on its request.

“Again, very much welcome the continued engagement of the provincial government to have been with us every step of the way in terms of this response, but also on a go-forward (basis) looking at ways they can support us here in Calgary to deliver a safe and reliable water system and utility,” Farkas said.

In his own letter to Williams, posted to social media, Farkas said while the city’s focus is currently on restoring the water system after the latest break, council is committed to long-term reforms.

“As we discussed, we share your view that maintaining public confidence in safe, reliable drinking water is non-negotiable,” Farkas wrote.

Williams says the city has until Jan. 27 to deliver documents including council and committee records, even those from meetings not open to the public going back to 2004. The province also wants statistics, media reports, and risk management and monitoring reports.

He says if the city can’t provide any of those documents, he would like “an explanation as to why.”

Farkas said in his letter that he didn’t think there would be any issues in providing the documents requested. He also offered that the city provide briefings “to ensure the documentation is interpreted accurately and fairly.”

The Bearspaw pipe transmits 60 per cent of the treated water used by those in the city and in surrounding municipalities. It has ruptured twice in less than two years, forcing water restrictions on residents.

The most recent break happened late last month, and residents are still being asked to take shorter showers and reduce their toilet flushes until water is fully restored.

The line also failed in the summer of 2024. Last week, an independent panel released its review into that rupture, attributing the cause and the overall fragility of the system to decades of underinvestment.

In their report, the panel traced the issue back to another watermain rupture in 2004, which it said should have raised alarms about the health of other city water pipes. It said a number of projects to inspect water pipes or carry out maintenance were deferred over the years in favour of other priorities.

The panel wrote that no one city council or staff member was to blame, as it said it believed that nobody fully knew the gravity of the situation.

Naheed Nenshi, the leader of Alberta’s Opposition NDP, was mayor of Calgary during that time, from 2010 to 2021. In recent days, Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative government has sought to tie him to the controversy.

“The seeds of the problem today, make no mistake, began under previous administrations,” Smith told reporters earlier this month. Smith said severe floods caused by heavy rainfall in 2013 should have led the city to do widespread investigations of its water system.

“And you have to ask the question, well, who was the mayor after the floods of 2013 until he decided to retire? And that was Naheed Nenshi,” she said.

At the time, Nenshi called Smith’s accusations “total garbage.”

In a statement Wednesday, Nenshi said the UCP routinely fails when faced with an opportunity to show leadership.

“Instead of working with the City of Calgary as a partner and committing to reverse billions in infrastructure cuts, they’re sending the city on a wild goose chase, costing taxpayers real money to find documents the government could Google themselves,” he said.

Also Wednesday, city officials updated progress on the feeder main. The line itself has been repaired, the water has been found safe to drink, and all that remains is to slowly bring the line back into service.

Michael Thompson, Calgary’s general manager of infrastructure services, said if all goes well, the restrictions could be lifted by the end of the week.

But he said nothing is for sure: “We can’t guarantee there won’t be another break during this time, so we are proceeding very carefully and gradually.”