City officials update on water main break as calls continue for Calgarians to cut back on water use

City of Calgary officials will provide an update this afternoon at 1 p.m. on the work to repair the Bearspaw south feeder main after it burst on Dec. 30.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas, who will speak at the briefing, posted on social media Wednesday night that crews continue to make good progress, with a new section of pipe now installed.

But he continues to call for Calgarians to cut back on their water consumption, to avoid pushing the system beyond a level it can sustain while the main is out of service.

The city says on Wednesday, 507 million litres of water were used, higher than the target sustainable level of 485 million litres.

Also on Wednesday, the City of Calgary issued a water supply alert through the Alberta Emergency Alert, warning that all residents and businesses must conserve water through shorter showers, and fewer flushes, and only run dishwashers and washing machines when full.

The message was broadcast across social media.

Alberta Emergency Alert posted that critical alerts that would see the message sent right to cellphones, can only be sent when there is an immediate threat to life.