Farkas warns Calgary water crisis approaches “loss-of-life territory”

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas urgently demanded that Calgarians drastically cut their water usage or face a “loss-of-life” disaster.

Source: X

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas urgently demanded that Calgarians drastically cut their water usage or face a “loss-of-life” disaster.

At 6 a.m. on Monday, Farkas wrote on X that water use had “slipped further into the redzone” overnight.

The mayor’s post sparked early backlash, much of it focused on city council and administration rather than Farkas himself.

“City management doing their jobs would have prevented this ‘life threatening’ situation in the first place,” wrote one user. “Stop putting this massive incompetence on the general population of Calgary. Put it where it belongs.”

“Maybe so. Just don’t lose sight of the FACT that if life is lost, it is NOT because Calgarians failed to curtail their water use based on your terse posts and fancy graphics, it is because City Council and Administration have been grossly negligent in fulfilling their duties,” wrote another user.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith similarly laid some of the blame at the feet of former Calgary mayor and current Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi.

She explained that the city’s water system had years of higher leakage levels than any other municipality, citing leaks of up to 20 per cent.

“Yet, after the floods, they didn’t bother to do any investigation on the water main. And, you have to ask the question, well, who was the mayor after the floods of 2013 until he decided to retire? That was Naheed Nenshi,” said Smith.

She also cited an administrative report “sitting on somebody’s desk” that city council still has not seen.

Smith praised Farkas for how he has handled and communicated the situation, again blaming previous administrations for the current fallout.

City Coun. Landon Johnston has similarly called for the report to be made public immediately, citing potential political interference.

“In my opinion, this report has lost all credibility going forward. The second the 2nd break happened we should have had access to the report, completed or not. This 1 – 2 million dollar report is now potentially compromised by our inability to be transparent and accountable with Calgarians,” he said.

Farkas previously shared the Executive Summary of the report, which discussed the water feeder’s “catastrophic failure” in June.

However, the December 30th water main break caused some city streets to flood with so much water that cars became inoperable.

The City of Calgary said water consumption remains above its acceptable threshold as repair work continues around the clock.

According to a city update issued on Sunday, daily usage reached 495 million litres on Jan. 3, exceeding the 485-million-litre target designed to ensure sufficient supply for drinking water and emergency response.

Calgary remains under Stage 4 water restrictions, the strictest level, which bans nearly all outdoor water use and carries fines of up to $3,000 for violations.

Last June’s water break saw Calgarians calling bylaw officers to report neighbours for violating water restrictions.

Former mayor Jyoti Gondek and the city council’s approval rating fell to a record low shortly after last summer’s water crisis.