Calgary officials to speak to media about city’s water supply concerns Friday morning

A day after Calgarians were asked to stop using water outdoors and to do their best to minimize water use indoors, emergency officials are scheduled to hold a news conference on Friday morning to provide an update on the city’s concerns regarding its water supply.

Officials are scheduled to speak at the news conference at 8 a.m. local time.

The water supply concerns were triggered by a massive water main break in northwest Calgary on Wednesday night. The incident happened in the Montgomery neighbourhood but spurred a boil water advisory for residents of the Bowness community.

The water main break affected a feeder main, which is a large artery to move drinking water across the city and to some nearby municipalities.

1:31 Calgary water main break spawns ‘critical water supply’ emergency alert, restrictions

Nancy MacKay, the City of Calgary’s director of water services, told reporters Thursday that while water main breaks are common in Calgary and other Canadian cities, the size of this one is significant and has a massive impact on the ability to move water.

Sue Henry, the head of Calgary’s emergency management agency, said that crews were still working to identify exactly what needs repairing and that there was no estimate for how long the repair work may take.

She noted the break is “large and complicated.”

“Right now, we can’t even tell you what the repair is, but I think we’re looking at least another day or two to be able to identify what’s going on,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said.

“And so while we can’t give you a set time frame, we can tell you that the crews are there.”

More to come

2:48 Officials continues to ask Calgarians to restrict use as crews work on water main break

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