Calgary water system had ‘systemic’ issues before pipe failure: Report

A report into Calgary’s beleaguered water system says the city wasn’t properly aware of the extent of its infrastructure problems and issues over the years were systemic rather than the fault of city councillors.

The findings came from an inspection the Ministry of Municipal Affairs ordered to be carried out back in March, looking into the City of Calgary’s management of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main.

The water main carries 60 per cent of the city’s drinking water and has experienced two major ruptures since 2024.

The third-party report, dated Oct. 8, 2026 and released to the public on Thursday, examined the city’s management of its overall water system dating back to 2004.

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The report was authored by independent inspector David Goldie, who previously served as Alberta Energy Regulator board chair from 2020 to 2024.

Goldie’s report found the failures of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main identified weaknesses in how the city managed infrastructure risks.

The underlying problem was systemic rather than narrowly technical, the report said.

“No city can guarantee that a pipe will never fail, but Calgarians can expect that critical risks would be understood, acted upon and clearly reported,” David Goldie said to reporters when releasing his report on Thursday.

The investigation involved 50 interviews and review of 58,260 documents and records. (The full report can be found at the bottom of this story.)

2015 Raftelis report not fully acted on

The report found multiple recommendations from a decade ago were never presented to council and that a gap between planned and completed capital projects likely contributed to the feeder main’s deterioration.

In January 2015, the City of Calgary hired utility advisory firm Raftelis to review the water system’s governance, finances and management.

Goldie’s probe found the mayor’s office received an advance briefing on the final draft, but the full Raftelis report and a majority of the recommendations were not passed on to city council.

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“I think a case could be made that if those recommendations had been considered and potentially implemented, that the utility could’ve gone on a different course,” Goldie said.

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Goldie’s report said senior city administration, led by city manager Jeffrey Fielding, debated the recommendations, while then-mayor Naheed Nenshi and his chief of staff were included in an advance briefing stream and were sent the draft version of the final report but there is no evidence it was provided to other councillors.

The inspector said five of nine priority recommendations were “consciously excluded” from material presented to councillors, including Raftelis’ first two priorities: clearer financial accountability and independent expert governance.

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“The handling of the review was irregular, improper and improvident: administration was entitled to disagree with Raftelis, but not to prevent council from considering major governance choices,” the report said.

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It added, “Although the evidence does not establish that the mayor directed or knowingly approved the omissions, the mayor’s office was part of a pre-council briefing and consultation process in which it was informed while council collectively was not.”

Nenshi, who is now leader of the provincial Opposition NDP, says he doesn’t recall the recommendations.

“Why would you need to put in that line (in the report)? Because I didn’t. It’s because the government put out a personal vendetta to try and find a smoking gun on me,” he said to reporters at the Alberta legislature on Thursday.

Nenshi denied any wrongdoing.

Infrastructure spending 35% below budget

Another issue identified: some approved funds earmarked for infrastructure work went unspent.

Between 2006 and 2024, actual utility capital expenditure averaged about 35 per cent below their approved budgets, as the city persistently delivered less work than council had approved.

“Capital investment also compared unfavourably with national infrastructure benchmarks and did not keep pace with inflation and population growth,” the report said.

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The report says the main constraint was not an absence of funds, but rather persistent inability to execute the capital programs.

The inspector noted that does not mean spending every approved dollar would have prevented the feeder-main failures, but said the sustained delivery gap increased the long-term risk and “likely contributed” to infrastructure deterioration.

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Separate water provider suggested

The report makes 20 recommendations, including the creation of an arm’s-length, municipally controlled water utility corporation — similar to the City of Edmonton-owned utility provider EPCOR.

The Goldie report said integration with electricity and natural gas-provider ENMAX — which is already owned by the City of Calgary — is the preferred long-term option, subject to an assessment proving ENMAX is up to the task.

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The 125-page report’s conclusion is that the 2024 and 2025 failures exposed systemic governance, asset-management, financial-management and accountability weaknesses, rather than simply a failed pipe.

“The report is being released publicly today so all Calgarians and Albertans can review the independent inspector’s findings and his recommendations to the minister,” Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams said.

In his report, Goldie suggests action on the recommendations within the next 24 months. Williams said he will review the findings before deciding any next steps.

“Its release doesn’t represent a decision from me on what future actions, if any, may be appropriate. The report is now public for Calgarians to review and consider as well.”

The Alberta government covered the cost of the inspection and report, but the amount spent on it has not yet been made public.

More water restrictions

The report comes as Calgarians and residents in surrounding communities are being asked to once again comply with water restrictions due to ongoing construction on the Bearspaw South Feeder Main.

Work to replace the existing feeder main, which Mayor Jeromy Farkas has called “terminally ill,” began in late January.

An August update said it was on schedule and on budget, expected to be done before the end of 2026.

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As the end of October, the six-kilometre replacement was 95 per cent complete.

2:04 The City of Calgary says repairs on the Bearspaw South Feeder Main are 95 per cent complete

The city said a project of that magnitude would normally take four years but construction was fast-tracked following the two catastrophic breaks.

Goldie’s report said it’s too early to assess whether the city’s recent reforms have materially reduced future failure risk.

The main has ruptured twice in the last two years — on June 5, 2024 and then again on the evening of Dec. 30, 2025 — leading to intermittent water restrictions while the pipe is overhauled and replaced.

A different independent report into the first failure of the Bearspaw feeder main recommended significant action to fix several decades-old systemic issues within the city’s water system. 

That independent report released this past January was commissioned after the June 2024 rupture forced the city to spend millions of dollars on emergency repairs and implement weeks of strict water conservation measures.

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The findings of the six-member independent panel were supposed to be released later in 2026, but the release was expedited after the Bearspaw feeder main ruptured for the second time in December 2025.

Although the report was written prior to the pipe’s second failure, it noted the recommendations remained relevant.

That report found the line will “continue to be unreliable” no matter how many repairs are conducted; the report noted it must be replaced.

1:39 Independent report into 2024 water main rupture in Calgary released

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With files from Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press and Ken MacGillivray, Michael King and Adam MacVicar, Global News