Calgary was ‘very proactive’ ahead of feeder main break: pipeline expert

The City of Calgary was “very proactive” successful tackling nan feeder main break that has forced residents and businesses to limit their h2o usage for much than 1 month, according to an American pipeline expert.

Water is now flowing astatine 55 per cent capacity done nan Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant’s southbound feeder main, a captious statement carrying h2o to astir 60 per cent of nan metropolis that burst connected June 5.

In nan weeks since nan break, nan metropolis has been relying connected h2o from nan South Glenmore Treatment Plant, which already supplies h2o to nan different 40 per cent of nan city.

Officials from nan City of Calgary confirmed Saturday that nan repairs and inspection of nan 11-kilometre feeder main are now complete. Maintenance activity astatine nan Glenmore works besides wrapped up connected Friday.

Francois Bouchart, Calgary’s head of superior priorities and investments, told reporters that nan inspection results should beryllium disposable successful 3 to 4 weeks.

After assessing nan results, he said nan metropolis will usage nan information to find whether further investigation aliases repair activity is needed.

“We learned a batch astir this feeder main during this consequence and it requires a mean to semipermanent rehabilitation plan,” Bouchart said.

“Depending connected what nan inspection results indicate, location mightiness beryllium immoderate individual replacement of pipe, but that is premature successful position of genuinely identifying what we request to do.”

Emergency officials besides utilized Saturday’s update to denote their determination to move from shape 4 h2o restrictions to shape 3 restrictions.

Under shape 3 restrictions, residents are allowed to capable watering cans aliases different containers pinch potable h2o to thin to lawns, gardens, shrubs and different outdoor plants.

Businesses tin besides usage h2o for building purposes, specified arsenic particulate control, grading and compaction.

Graham Bell, a investigation subordinate professor astatine nan University of Tennessee’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said he’s worked pinch nan City of Calgary connected pipeline projects.

He said prestressed actual cylinder tube (PCCP), produced successful nan 1970s, for illustration nan Bearspaw feeder main, presented problems.

“Occasionally, failures do hap moreover though you’re trying to beryllium arsenic proactive arsenic you can, but you can’t do everything astatine once, truthful you extremity up doing what you tin pinch nan fund that you have,” Bell said.

“It’s not a lawsuit wherever you tin conscionable determine to unopen a main down and do precisely what you want. You person to support delivering nan h2o group need.”

Bell said nan PCCP creation is utilized crossed North America and is known to beryllium susceptible to awesome failures, but noted its engineering has improved since nan precocious 1970s.

He said nan City of Calgary was “very proactive” successful dealing pinch nan business astatine manus because it had installed a PCCP acoustic fibre optical monitoring strategy upstream of wherever nan nonaccomplishment occurred.

Using that exertion shows nan metropolis was connected nan correct path, Bell said.

“It’s not for illustration you tin conscionable say, ‘I want to switch each this pipe’ because that would beryllium a lawsuit wherever 96 per cent of what you spend, you don’t request to spend,” he said.

“It would almost beryllium worse because you’d beryllium wasting nan money.”

Bell estimates that successful a fewer much weeks, nan metropolis would person recovered nan bad tube by inspection and would person had monitoring installed that would let for an involution anterior to failure.

“One of nan things group request to understand is that it’s only astir 3 aliases 4 per cent of these pipes person these types of problems,” he said.

“So you’re looking not rather for a needle successful a haystack, but you are looking beautiful difficult done an important wood heap to effort to find a fewer sticks that you want.”

City officials said nan adjacent milestone will impact moving from shape 3 to shape 2 h2o restrictions. Progress relies connected gradually expanding nan system’s proviso without compromising nan pipe.

“Some level of outdoor restrictions will beryllium successful spot for immoderate clip yet,” Bouchart said.