Calgary councillor critical of feeder main report, author claims council was ‘sidetracked’
Global News
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness is raising concerns about the recommendations including the establishment of a municipally owned corporation to manage Calgary's water system.
A Calgary city councillor is raising concerns with a report from an independent panel tasked with reviewing the 2024 rupture of the Bearspaw feeder main, as the panel’s chair calls for urgency.
The 86-page report was written by a panel of industry experts and headed up by former ATCO executive Siegfried Kiefer, which reviewed the circumstances that led up to the critical failure of the Bearspaw feeder main in June 2024.
The report found systemic issues around how the city managed its water utility over the last 20 years, including deferred maintenance and inspections, and a fragmented governance structure that didn’t allow information and concerns to filter up to decision makers within the city.
“I’m confident that if council evaluates what we’ve said, they will align with our thinking,” Kiefer said in an interview with Global News’ Joel Senick on Calgary Close Up.
“I would stress that the urgency of the issue needs to be well understood, and now is the time for quick action, not delay and debate.”
The report was presented to city council last week during a special meeting called by Mayor Jeromy Farkas, in which council unanimously approved directing city administration to develop a plan by Feb. 3 to advance all the recommendations made by the panel in its report.
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean said he accepts everything the panel noted in its report, and that council should follow each of the recommendations.
“These are experts, they came and gave us their expert ideas and the fact that maybe administration and some on council think they know better, I disagree with,” McLean told Global News. “I will tend to agree with what the experts say.”
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