Calgary's Water System Faces Scrutiny After Two Decades of Mismanagement

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A recent report reveals systemic issues in Calgary's water management, prompting calls for accountability and reform.

CALGARY, ALTA. — A newly released report into the management of Calgary's water system has unveiled two decades of poor oversight and funding, raising significant concerns about the integrity of the city's water infrastructure. The findings, made public recently, highlight a range of systemic issues that have persisted unaddressed for years, with city councillors reportedly unaware of the full scope of the problems. In particular, it was noted that the city had failed to act on known issues, and that fixes approved by the council were not consistently implemented.
Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams expressed his intention to review the recommendations outlined in the third-party analysis in the coming months, indicating a potential shift in how the city manages its water utilities. “Water is fundamental. It’s not a nice-to-have,” Williams emphasized during a press conference in Calgary. “It is the foundation that every home, every business, every family and every health service depends on.”
The timing of this report coincides with ongoing water restrictions affecting Calgary residents and nearby communities, necessitated by repair work on the Bearspaw South Feeder Main, which is responsible for providing approximately 60 percent of the city's drinking water. Residents have been instructed to limit their water usage, including taking shorter showers and reducing toilet flushes, with these restrictions expected to remain in effect for several more weeks. This situation follows a pattern of intermittent restrictions over the past two years, indicating a troubling trend in the city's water management.
The report was commissioned by Williams earlier this year and conducted by David Goldie, a former chair of Alberta’s energy regulator. Goldie's analysis culminated in 20 recommendations aimed at reforming the city’s approach to water management. Among these suggestions is the establishment of an independent water utility corporation to enhance oversight of management and financial practices within the city’s water services. Additionally, Goldie urged the province to evaluate whether its existing legislation provides adequate oversight of critical city infrastructure and utilities.
In discussing accountability, Goldie noted that the water issues could not be attributed to any single city councillor or mayor, although the political ramifications surrounding the water main breaks have turned into a contentious issue. The report referenced a previous external review commissioned by the city during Naheed Nenshi’s tenure as mayor, which was released a decade ago. That earlier review also identified structural weaknesses within the water utility and proposed nine recommendations to address them. Goldie pointed out that while Nenshi and his chief of staff received these recommendations, not all were communicated to the entire council, which he described as a significant governance failure.
In a response to the findings, Williams expressed surprise at the report's direct implications regarding Nenshi. Meanwhile, the governing United Conservative Party (UCP) has taken a more critical stance, with backbencher Chantelle de Jonge asserting that Nenshi ignored crucial recommendations from the report and failed to communicate them to fellow councillors. Nenshi, now the leader of the Opposition NDP, dismissed the report's implications as a politically motivated attack, stating that the investigator found no evidence of wrongdoing on his part. He also suggested that the recommendations from the 2015-16 review would not have prevented the subsequent water main breaks.
This report marks the second critical evaluation of Calgary's water management in recent months, following a city report that identified underfunding and fragile infrastructure as the main causes behind a Bearspaw main rupture in mid-2024. Notably, that report also concluded that no individual city council or staff member was responsible for the issues, further complicating the narrative surrounding accountability in the city's water management crisis.

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