27% of Cambridge's drinking water system in poor condition but no risk of catastrophic failure: city

Close to 14 per cent of assets owned by the City of Cambridge are now in poor or very poor condition and the city would need to fork out millions of dollars to repair or renew them, according to a city official.

Yogesh Shah, the deputy city manager of infrastructure services, said 70 per cent of assets valued at $1.98 billion are classified as "very good or good," while 13.9 per cent of assets valued at $587 million are classified as "poor or very poor." 

In 2017, four per cent of assets were classified as very good and good and nine per cent were classified as poor and very poor, Shah said as he presented the Interim 2024 Asset Management Plan to councillors this week.

Ward 1 Coun. Helen Shwery pointed to a section of the report which says 27 per cent of the city's drinking water assets are in "poor or very poor condition," saying "that's concerning." 

But Shah said the assets being in poor and very poor condition doesn't mean that they are not meeting current standards and not able to meet service requirements. 

"They do good enough to provide the services [but are] prone to frequent failures" he told councillors. 

"So, you might experience more water main breaks because they are in a later stage of their life … so if more assets are in poor and very poor condition [it] means you need more cost, more dollars to operate those assets. 

"At the same time, we will need funds to replace those assets when they reach the end of their life," Shah added.

Meanwhile, Ward 3 Coun. Corey Kimpson pointed to the water main break that Calgary experienced about six weeks ago, questioning whether Cambridge has any of the same types of pipes as part of its water mains.

Shah said the city has established a water main rehabilitation program, "so all of our large size pipes have gone through some kind of an assessment and [a] risk-based prioritization and the consequences of failure. So, even though they are at the mid-age, they get rehabilitation and you get a liner inside the pipe so we prevent that happening as much as possible. 

"So, hopefully not in Cambridge … we don't have the size of the pipe which was broken in Calgary in Cambridge, so we wouldn't have that kind of a big problem," Shah added.

He said the city has taken "a proactive approach" and has "a mitigation plan." Elaborating, he said, "we have a strategically located valve to close the pipe if the main break occurs immediately so it doesn't propagate in the rest of the system."

Calgary suffered a catastrophic feeder main break on June 5 that left the city in a water-supply crisis. The situation continues to improve, and officials have been gradually lifting restrictions that were put in place while they work to replace the broken main.

Meanwhile, the city's stormwater and wastewater systems have been rated as good and very good, respectively.