The Water Efficiency Plan is a multi-faceted strategy to reduce the per capita water demand by 20 per cent by 2040. It included an infrastructure investment to deal with Calgary\u2019s 20 per cent water loss (leaks), accelerating water meter replacement, the outdoor watering schedule for summer months to deal with peak water use periods, proposed \u201cconservation-oriented\u201d pricing and other education and conservation measures.<\/p>\n
Rehana Rajabali, leader of Environmental Planning and Policy at the City of Calgary, said the updated plan (first delivered in 2005) modeled future water demand, and the plan took into consideration the feedback from city staff, industry partners and community organizations to understand operational needs of the City of Calgary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis work ensured that the plan is practical, feasible and fit for the moment that we are in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Rajabali said that while the infrastructure leak fixes will result in one of the largest water savings, the scale and complexity of Calgary\u2019s water system means that those investments will take some time \u2013 at least 10 years, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the meantime, summer peak demand is a key pressure point,\u201d Rajabali said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater use can increase up to 40 per cent on peak summer day compared to the average winter day, and this is why early actions like the lawn and landscape watering schedule are being proposed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Managing the peak demand is key: Panel chair<\/p>\n
Siegfried Kiefer, chair of the Bearspaw South feeder main independent review panel and current advisor on Calgary\u2019s water system rehabilitation, said that managing the peak use is key in any utility, particularly as a means to limit downstream cost to infrastructure. He noted that it\u2019s the same in utilities such as natural gas and electricity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you can do to manage that peak demand to a more reasonable level is significant in terms of saving your customers costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see this as being prudent, justifiable, and I\u2019m going to say just rational, in terms of where this city needs to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiefer also pointed out that most of the municipalities surrounding Calgary already have these kinds of outdoor watering schedules in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the measures that Calgary is contemplating in this water efficiency plan are not outlandish in comparison to communities surrounding you. I would say Calgary is in effect catching up now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said that something needs to be done, and there\u2019s an acute need this summer, with ongoing work happening with the Bearspaw South feeder main pushing less overall volume due to its volatility.<\/p>\n
Kiefer said that he understood there\u2019s a political ramification anytime people are told they have to do something on a certain day.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut look, I now understand that Thursday mornings, I have to wheel my garbage bin out to the street side to get picked up. And it only happens on Thursdays, and I don\u2019t leave it there all week. I put it away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalgarians are, I think, understanding people, and we understand that we\u2019ve got a need to manage our resources wisely. They have adapted their electricity consumption to try not to consume during peak periods. They\u2019ve adapted, turned their thermostat down a couple degrees to save on their natural gas bills. If they realize that by not watering in the middle of the day, they can save some money on their long-term water costs, I think they will adapt to it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/difference-between-restrictions-and-schedule.jpeg\")
The difference between the outdoor water schedule, versus the Stage 1 water restrictions. CITY OF CALGARY DOCUMENTS<\/p>\n
The debate<\/p>\n
Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal said that Calgary is already behind the curve, particularly because the city has been focused on the supply side. This addresses the demand side of the equation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are asking is putting a proper mechanism in place, which will be more of an education, which will also have consistency and predictability for our homeowners, when and how they can do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said that he was recently at an Alberta Municipalities meeting about water last week. They brought up a municipal water discussion paper that set out many of these actions back in 2012 and other cities started to do them right away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not reinventing the wheel here,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been in existence for some time. In fact, we\u2019re kind of behind the eight-ball here, insofar as implementation is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule said that among the emails he received on the item, he saw the submission from Chair Kiefer. That gave him pause, and he remembered the overarching theme of a lack of action for 20 years that led to the Bearspaw South feeder main break.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision today that we\u2019re making is more for 100 years down the road and so I hope that they look back to today and see that we instilled some of these habits for Calgarians that help people 100 years down the road when the Bow glacier is melted, when the water source is less than it is today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ward 12 Coun. Mike Jamieson said he put out a survey to residents in his area and then put it out citywide and received 3,200-plus responses. He said that 90 per cent of the respondents opposed the plan in its current form.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no question in my mind that there is widespread opposition to this current plan in its current form. I want to emphasize this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe level of opposition to the water efficiency plan is significantly greater than what I saw during the blanket rezoning debate, and we know that how engaged and how divided the city was on that issue, so I believe we need to take this very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean said this was an overreach, and that the City of Calgary needs to take care of its own house first.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe it\u2019s my frugal Scottish background, but I abhor waste. I\u2019m all about efficiencies, but I was also telling you, get your own house in order before we start directing other people and telling them what to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re losing a massive over 20 per cent of our water through leaks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos wanted to change the bylaw to make the outdoor watering schedule voluntary, which was defeated. He did put forward a motion arising to look back at the data on the impact of the water efficiency plan, particularly around the outdoor watering schedule. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-28-at-5.49.51-PM.png\")
<\/p>\n
This was defeated, as there is a basic reporting structure included in the overarching plan. <\/p>\n
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