The state of infrastructure across the country is catastrophic and action must be taken now to prevent massive water pipe bursts, which continue to occur frequently in Alberta’s largest city, says the president of the Canadian Association of Municipalities.
Geoff Stewart was in Calgary for the association’s annual general meeting in June when the rift occurred, resulting in months of water restrictions and other burdensome measures.
Montreal residents were confronted with the failure of their own infrastructure on Friday when a rupture in a key underground water main near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge unleashed what residents described as a “wall of water.” Streets and homes were flooded, prompting the evacuation of surrounding buildings and a boil water advisory for 150,000 households.
“Infrastructure across the country is in dire need of modernization and renovation,” Stewart said.
“The country’s infrastructure is outdated. We are entering a crisis and need to carry out very extensive infrastructure work from one end to the other.”
Most of Calgary’s restrictions were lifted earlier this month when Mayor Jyoti Gondek announced that an analysis along a 10-kilometre pipeline system in northwest Calgary had identified additional problem areas.
The line will be shut down from August 26 through the end of September so that it can be excavated and reinforced with concrete in those areas. Water restrictions will be reinstated, including a ban on watering lawns and requests to take shorter showers and do less laundry.
Drone records damage caused by burst water pipe in Montreal
Stewart’s group has released a report calling for a “municipal growth framework” that would change federal and provincial funding formulas to make more money available to municipalities.
He said Ottawa and the provinces have the opportunity to raise more revenue by increasing income or sales taxes.
“Municipalities bear a greater burden and without property taxes their revenues increase little or not at all,” he said.
“When it comes to taxpayer dollars, less than eight to ten cents of every dollar raised goes to local governments. Now is the time. We are at a critical juncture when it comes to infrastructure in this country, and we need to have this conversation.”
Wake-up call for Canada
An engineering professor said the pipe burst in Calgary is likely a harbinger of what other cities in Canada, especially in cold regions, may face in the foreseeable future.
She said it was a wake-up call for Canada.
“Unfortunately, this is one of those moments where other jurisdictions can learn some lessons from the tragedy,” said Tricia Stadnyk, a professor at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering.
“The best thing we can do now is to learn from this disaster and hope that maybe we can be the canary in the coal mine and prevent something like this from happening elsewhere.”
According to a 2020 report from Canada’s Core Public Infrastructure Survey, nearly one in five kilometres of water, sewer and stormwater pipes – 86,000 out of more than 472,000 – were reaching the end of their useful life because they were built before 1970.
The average expected service life of new underground pipes in 2020 was between 50 and 73 years
According to Stadnyk, the line in Calgary is almost 50 years old and this is the time when a catastrophic failure could occur.
She said Calgary is also more vulnerable because of its climate, as winter weather can fluctuate greatly between freezing cold snaps and mild Chinook weather, putting stress on pipes.
A message from the City of San Diego, who donated a piece of pipe to the City of Calgary to repair their main line. (Photo: X@City of Calgary)
Acoustic monitoring in Calgary pipelines
Stadnyk does not believe the Calgary outage was sudden and says there were probably signs that there was a problem.
One problem was the failure of the tensioned steel reinforcement wires that surrounded the pipe.
“Because the pipe is buried, it is very difficult to access. An acoustic monitoring system has been installed on this pipe, which is state-of-the-art in water pipe infrastructure,” she said.
“But unfortunately the acoustic monitors don’t seem to have registered the wire snaps.”
Michael Thompson, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services, said the city installed acoustic monitoring devices last spring.
That system will be upgraded to a fiber optic system starting this week, he said.
“This allows us to precisely determine the location of a cable break and monitor the condition of the line more closely.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 18, 2024.
