Calgary hopes for strong flow to messaging as it asks residents to tighten water taps
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CALGARY – As Calgary tightens the taps and enters a renewed round of water restrictions, the city’s mayor says they are hoping to have a stronger flow of messaging to residents.
Jeromy Farkas had previously said some residents in the city weren’t aware of past water restrictions from a pipe rupture in late December, citing distance from social media and news stories over the Christmas holidays.
“Many different people consume through different channels. But for us, we’re trying to try novel concepts; we’re out there on Reddit constantly,” Farkas said of the forum-driven social media site during a news conference on Monday.
“Just this morning we opened up a new community resource office in (the affected community of) Bowness; we’re going knocking door to door; we’re providing translations in different languages.”
City crews are working to reinforce multiple sections of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main, which forced earlier rounds of restrictions after it ruptured in June 2024 and again in late December.
It’s now being shut down a third time as a preventive measure to repair rundown areas and is expected to last a month.
The main supplies about 60 per cent of the treated water to the city’s 1.6 million residents.
Those in Calgary and surrounding communities who use the water are prohibited from outdoor water use and being asked to conserve indoor water use, including with fewer toilet flushes and shorter showers.
An independent panel report examining the pipe’s rupture in 2024 and brought to city council found municipal water infrastructure had been underfunded and poorly maintained.
Since being elected in October, Farkas has repeatedly diagnosed the water main as “terminally ill” and promised to build a parallel pipe by the end of 2026 to take the place of the current, ailing pipe.
The nine sections being reinforced were found to have the most deterioration along the pipe, according to Ryan Kidd, the city’s deputy director of drinking water.
Those are being replaced in hopes of keeping the water main alive long enough to hand over the city’s water responsibilities to its sister, being built alongside it.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2026.