Water restoration delayed after work-site injuries forced pause of main break repairs
CBC
Fully restoring Calgary's water service will take longer than expected, but exactly how long is still undetermined.
Work to fix a feeder main break that triggered citywide water restrictions last week can now resume after two workers were injured at the site.
At around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, a contractor was welding to install the metal collar on the new section on the pipe. While doing that, a chain broke and caused injuries.
Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) was called in. Work can't resume until the provincial agency determines it's safe.
WATCH | City officials provide update on water main break:
"Keeping our employees safe is a core value of the city," said Christopher Collier, the City of Calgary's occupational health and safety director.
"There are safety protocols for returning the site to operations and this has been underway since the clearance was provided by OHS Alberta."
The site was green lit for welding activities at around 10:45 a.m. Thursday. That work was expected to resume in the afternoon.
The Bearspaw south water main, which is 11 kilometres long and as wide as two metres in parts, suffered a break on June 5 that temporarily left hundreds of homes and businesses in the city's northwest without water.
In an update on Wednesday — a week after the main failed — officials told Calgarians they could expect water restrictions to continue into the middle of next week.
Gondek said water consumption has crept up again, this time by nine million litres, taking the city far above the safe threshold.
"I now must ask you to do more on your water conservation to support those that are working to restore our safe water supply," Gondek said Thursday.
Water supply is also lower than it has been over the past few days.
"This morning, we were at a place where we don't have enough of a cushion for emergencies," Gondek said. She said emergencies include water needed for hospitals and for firefighting.
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