On December 30, 2025, the Bearspaw feeder main—which supplies 60% of Calgary’s drinking water—burst for the second time, just 18 months after its initial failure.
This incident led to two weeks of strict water restrictions while repairs were being made, prompting the city to reassess the condition of its infrastructure.
Unclear oversight and years of deferred maintenance led to the first Bearspaw pipe burst in 2024, in a system weakened by leaky pipes.
However, the second Bearspaw pipe burst is a pivotal moment for the city – it has changed how it understands the risks of critical infrastructure and the lack of system redundancy, according to a report, “The City’s Risk Profile at Year-End 2025”, released in January 2026.
The risk report aims to provide an update on the risks facing the city of Calgary and their impact on the Principal Corporate Risks (PCR). The report shows that the city’s risk profile is trending upward.
It states that mounting pressures and increased risk stem from infrastructure challenges, population growth, and geopolitical risks, highlighting that risks in the second half of 2025 have shifted from “high” to “extensive”.
The city’s infrastructure problems have ripple effects on other critical assets, including water infrastructure, IT assets, the fleet, buildings, bridges, and roads.
The report notes that 11% of its assets are in poor to very poor condition, increasing the risk of failure and leading to service disruptions and potential health and safety issues.
To address the city’s infrastructure woes, it plans to design a system redundancy into all its critical infrastructure. It plans to identify the single point of failure across all asset types, enhance resilience, actively monitor risks, develop mitigation plans, and implement measures to reduce systemic risk.
With regards to the Bearspaw feeder main, CBC reports that the city of Calgary plans to act on the recommendations from the 2024 report, which found that the risk of the pipe’s failure was first identified in 2004.
Nevertheless, the city has consistently postponed inspection, monitoring, and risk mitigation due to the belief that it is unlikely to fail, reallocating funds to other priorities.
The report emphasized the urgent need to implement its recommendations. This includes expediting efforts to duplicate the Bearspaw steel pipe within 12 to 14 months, repairing and maintaining the existing pipe, and establishing a dedicated water utility department.
Additionally, the department should be supported by a board of independent experts, given the warning about the pipe’s potential to fail again.
Responding to the report, Calgary’s mayor, Jeromy Farkas, calls on city council to spare no expense and begin to act on the report’s recommendations.
“When you think about this as a mega-project to guarantee Calgary safe and reliable drinking water for the next hundred years, we need to be willing to invest at a scale at least what we’ve seen, say, for a new rink or for the entertainment district,” said Farkas.
In 2020, Calgary’s infrastructure gap is estimated at over $7.7 billion, representing the value of unfunded infrastructure investment needs over the ensuing decade, according to another CBC article.
Wastewater infrastructure is also facing a looming threat, according to the article.
While upgrades to toilet flushes have reduced water consumption, this means there is less water to transport waste. The waste oxidizes to sulfuric acid, which thins out the sewer pipes.
Angus Chu, a civil engineering professor at the University of Calgary, calls the situation a “sleeping giant” for the wastewater system, a problem he is not sure how to solve.
The situation also led to an increase in odor complaints in Calgary in the last two decades. Chu adds that the more severe storm puts pressure on the city’s stormwater system, which is more than 50 years old.
Aging infrastructure is a common problem across Canada, and Bearspaw break is illustrative of what every Canadian city faces, says Federation of Canadian Municipalities president Rebecca Bligh.
The challenge lies in securing funding to update or replace aging infrastructure. Bligh notes that Canadian municipalities own approximately 60% of the country’s infrastructure; however, their revenue primarily comes from taxes, which she considers outdated. She advocates for municipalities to have access to more financial tools to help cover these costs.
The challenges of funding upgrades, renewals, or replacements of aging infrastructure are not just a Canadian issue.
The same challenge can be observed in the USA, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand; in fact, it is a worldwide challenge.
Sources
Jeffrey, A. (2026, January 24). More than water: Calgary infrastructure woes putting pressure on city hall. CBC.CA. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/infrastructure-underwater-woes-city-hall-9.7052884
Dryden, J. & Jeffrey, A. (2026, January 7). Calgary to act on recommendations from panel report on 2024 water main break. CBC.CA. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-to-act-on-recommendations-from-panel-report-on-2024-water-main-break-9.7036441
The City’s Risk Profile at Year-End 2025. Retrieved from https://pub-calgary.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=343744
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