Calgarians forced to get creative after losing much of their water

Crews scramble to repair water main that provides 60% of city's supply

- ALEX BOYD

Crews work to repair a major water main break and five other weak spots in Calgary. City officials say consumption must remain 25 per cent lower than usual or some neighbourhoods or essential services may run out of water.

The rhythmic chug of the 80-yearold steam train at Calgary’s Heritage Park has gone silent.

Nowadays, the roughly 5,000 litres of water required every day to create the steam to build the pressure that pushes the pistons that turns the wheels that transports the historically-minded tourists around the track is a finite resource.

Put another way, that’s enough water to take 50 baths, run a garden hose for five hours or flush 100 toilets — all activities now frowned upon in a city now three weeks into an unprecedented water main break that isn’t totally fixed yet.

“We’re doing this because the city is in dire need and it’s telling everybody to do it,” Dominic Terry, spokesperson for the living history museum, of the voluntary decision to shut down the steam trains, in addition to cutting back on watering the gardens and pre-soaking dishes in their dining venues. “We decided that we would do our part.”

The residents of Calgary, the third-largest city in the country, have been finding creative ways to reduce water consumption since the morning of June 5, when many of its 1.3 million residents were jolted awake by an emergency phone alert warning that the city’s water supply was in a “critical” state.