City officials are proposing Calgary spend $342 million over the next four years to reduce the amount of water the city loses through leaky pipes.

Calgary lost 23 per cent of its treated water last year to leaks, city officials said in an update to council’s infrastructure and planning committee Tuesday. The mark is part of a larger trend where officials estimate Calgary has lost between 20 and 24 per cent of its water annually since 2019.

In Tuesday’s report, officials proposed dedicating $342 million in the next four-year budget, which council is scheduled to debate this fall, to cut Calgary’s annual water loss down to 15 per cent by 2030. The budget total is roughly double what the city spent to reduce water loss to leaks in the current budget cycle.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he supports administration’s recommended investment, adding Calgary cannot afford to not fix its pipes. He said the investment would reduce pressure on the city’s water infrastructure, and save the city money from a long-term perspective.

“Money spent here more than pays itself on a fivefold or 10-to-1 return basis,” Farkas said.

“This is an absolute no-brainer for us to invest in. We need to fix the pipes so that we can make the system much more efficient overall.”

The suggestion comes a little more than a month after council greenlit a water efficiency plan that included a mandatory outdoor watering schedule, with the target of reducing per-capita water demand 20 per cent by 2040.

Since a second catastrophic water main break in 18 months, which occurred in December, council has also heard reports indicating it has underspent on water infrastructure for years.

The average daily water demand in Calgary, and surrounding communities that rely on its water supply, was 522 million litres last year, city data shows. Losing 23 per cent of that total to leaks means the system lost around 120 million litres per day in 2025, the equivalent of 48 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Councillor calls annual water loss an ’emergency’

The city’s plan indicates the investment would go toward new water meters, expanded leak detection and repairs, as well as replacement and maintenance for aging pipes.

Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly said the 15 per cent target is a good start, but he hopes the city can go even further.

“I do view this as an emergency, and I think that we should be trying to accelerate this as much as we possibly can,” said Kelly. 

“Losing a quarter of our water is, in my opinion and a lot of my neighbours, an absolutely crazy amount of water to be able to lose.”

Kelly partly attributed Calgary’s high level of water loss to chronic underinvestment for more than 15 years. He said the city needs to invest in improved monitoring of its water infrastructure to know where leaks are occurring.

Leaks harder to detect in Calgary

Across Canada, municipalities lose about 17 per cent of water due to pipe leaks, according to Statistics Canada data in 2021. Alberta’s other major city Edmonton loses closer to five per cent of its water, EPCOR director of communications Martin Kennedy told CBC Radio Active in January.

But leaks in Calgary can be more difficult to detect across what officials describe as a large, complex system. Part of the city’s problem is Calgary has more gravelly soil than other municipalities like Edmonton, which leads leaks to drip downward more often, rather than pooling above ground.

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who chairs the infrastructure committee, said he supports administration’s plan, and suggested council should consider spending even more to address the problem.

He noted the solution is less expensive than the consequences that could come from Calgary continuing to lose just under a quarter of its water annually.

“It’s a lot cheaper to reduce our water loss than to build a new water treatment plant,” said Chabot. “It’s a small investment in something that’s going to have a long-term benefit.”