Bearspaw feeder main repairs near completion but future ruptures possible

Repairs Underway for Bearspaw Feeder Main

Crews are working diligently to repair the Bearspaw feeder main, which ruptured for the second time on December 30, 2025, according to City of Calgary officials.

Michael Thompson, general manager of the city’s infrastructure services, provided an update on Saturday. He said, “City and contractor crews have completed back-filling the site, and we’ve started repairing the road above the pipe.”

Thompson added, “We’re currently in the process of filling the pipe. It takes almost 22 million litres of water to fill it — the equivalent of nine Olympic swimming pools full.”

Filling the pipe may take several days. Once filled, the water will need to be treated and tested.

Thompson stated, “We are going to do this very slowly and carefully. Our current schedule is early next week to have that work completed, and we will be updating Calgarians every step of the way.”

Despite the repairs, Mayor Jeromy Farkas is preparing Calgarians for the possibility of more breaks in the future. He said, “This pipe is sick, and it could continue to break and we could continue to face those immediate repairs.”

Farkas noted, “This will be the new reality until we can fully replace the full six-kilometre pipe, which is terminally ill.”

Once the water main is back online, the plan is to dig up sections of the pipe in the spring and summer. This will add reinforcements to reduce the chance of another catastrophic break. The goal is to give the city enough time to construct and install more redundancies before eventually replacing the Bearspaw feeder main entirely.

Summary of Repairs