Wednesday, March 18, 2026
The City of Calgary’s council unanimously approved a $609 million increase to the 2026 capital budget on March 17 to fund accelerated work on the Bearspaw water main and construction of a replacement pipe.
The funds in the 2026-2027 capital budget according to the city’s executive committee water transformation program quarterly update would put $367.4 million to the Bearspaw South Feedermain work, $222 million to North Calgary water servicing work, 15 million to advanced metering infrastructure and $5.1 million towards capital delivery.
The funding would be through “future rates and levies, requiring borrowing capacity through debt bylaws,” the update said, with the 2026 operating budget seeing a $21.3 million increase funded through the Utility Sustainment Reserve.
The update said Stage 1 of the repairs is currently underway, with microtunneling on track and open cut preparation underway for a May 2026 start of construction.
North Calgary Water Servicing is currently under construction, it added, along with emergency preparedness planning and expanded monitoring and analysis.
The Bearspaw feedermain first failed in summer 2024 and again in Dec. 2025, both times requiring Calgary citizens to reduce their water usage. An independent review examined the 2024 incident and was completed before the 2025 feedermain break.
