WATCH | Calgary officials deliver update on water main break
CBC
Officials will provide an update on the repairs to the city's feeder water main pipe Sunday at 2 p.m. Watch it live here, or on the CBC Alberta YouTube page.
Read our previous story below.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the July 5 target for completing water repairs is "still very much in play," as crews continue to work on replacing damaged sections of pipe on the city's feeder main.
In a briefing update on Saturday morning, Gondek said the cutting and removal of the damaged sections of pipe is now complete.
"This is a significant milestone, and it begins our transition from pipe removal toward pipe installation," she said.
Most materials required for the repairs are either on site or in transit, including two key pieces of pipe that arrived from San Diego earlier this week, Gondek said.
At a later press conference, Michael Thompson, the city's general manager of infrastructure services, said one section of pipe that cannot be removed because of the presence of a thrust block is being reinforced with steel.
The replacement pipes are currently being sandblasted and coated, Thompson said, and will be delivered to their respective sites when ready for installation.
He said crews are currently focused on welding into place the adapters that will attach the new pieces of steel pipe to the old infrastructure.
Any sections of pipe that have been removed are being stored so that they can become part of an independent incident review, Gondek said.
WATCH | City walks through next stages in pipe repairs after damaged portions removed:
The mayor announced on Friday the city's intention to carry out the review, which is set to be guided by members of the water industry, as well as academia. Gondek also promised to conduct a wide-ranging examination of the city's underground infrastructure.
"What I can tell you is that the framework [of the review] has been completed, and we're now moving into the phases of identifying who would be on the panel and then standing up that panel and having them be publicly announced," she said.
Repairs on multiple sections of the water feeder main that transports the majority of the city's water have been underway for more than two weeks, since an initial catastrophic break occurred on June 5.
