No timeline for Calgary water main fix; boil water advisory in place for some areas
CBC
City of Calgary officials say they have identified the location of what they are calling a second “catastrophic” water main break in the northwest in less than two years, but they do not have a timeline as to when it might be fixed.
Catastrophic is the most severe categorization of incidents, according to the city's risk assessment.
Firefighters and police responded Tuesday evening to significant flooding beneath the CPKC rail bridge near 69th Street N.W.
Thirteen people had to be rescued from eight vehicles that got caught in the torrent of water.
Josh Podulsky was one of those rescued. He was driving along 16th Avenue when he said the road "exploded."
He described seeing a massive water spout, and within seconds water levels began rapidly rising around him.
"It was pretty freaky," he said.
He was stranded for about an hour inside his vehicle before being lifted out by firefighters. Podulsky said he decided to stay put in his car after watching two people exit their vehicle and nearly get swept away.
"[My] car's done, I think. It's totalled, because the water was going over the windshield," Podulsky said.
The break on the Bearspaw south feeder main — the same source of the break in 2024 — happened around 8 p.m. Tuesday along 16th Avenue, east of its interchange with Sarcee Trail.
This break involved a section of pipe installed in 1975, and not the replacement pipe received from San Diego to repair the last break, the city said in an update Wednesday.
It happened due to a “rapid drop in pressure,” said Nancy Mackay, the city’s director of water services.
Water has now been shut off in the affected area.
Early Wednesday morning, the city issued boil water advisories for parts of Parkdale, Montgomery, Point McKay and West Hillhurst. Water wagons will be deployed to those communities.
