Alberta report finds Calgary water system long mismanaged

CALGARY – An independent inspector’s report released Thursday by the Alberta government says Calgary’s water system suffered from long-standing systemic weaknesses in governance, risk management, accountability and capital project delivery, and it makes 20 recommendations.

Inspector David Goldie examined events dating back to 2004 after two failures of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main, on June 5, 2024, and Dec. 30, 2025, according to the province’s news release. Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams appointed him in March under the Municipal Government Act. The final report was given to the province in October.

The report found the city did not consistently turn known risks into timely inspections, funded work or corrective action. It also found the city’s governance system did not regularly bring together information on infrastructure condition, service reliability, financial capacity and capital delivery.

Between 2006 and 2024, actual capital spending averaged about 35 per cent below approved budgets, the province’s release said, and the inspector concluded the gap likely contributed to the deterioration of the system. Between 2016 and 2020, the water utility’s capital spending averaged 46 per cent below the national average.

The report also dealt with what city council knew. According to the province, former mayor Naheed Nenshi and his chief of staff received an advance briefing on the draft-final Raftelis report, a review of the water utility from 2015 and 2016, with all of its recommendations. The full report and most of its recommendations were not then provided to council, the release said. Five of the nine priority recommendations were never presented to councillors, including ones on financial accountability and independent expert governance. The province said those five were nearly identical to recommendations made by the 2024 independent review panel on the feeder main. The province’s release did not include a response from Nenshi.

The Canadian Press reported that the report found councillors were not told the full extent of the problem and that council-approved fixes were not always done.

The report notes steps the city has already taken, including creating a Water Utility Oversight Board and naming an acting chief operating officer. Goldie wrote that whether those changes work will depend on clearer decisions, more transparent reporting and measurable reductions in risk.

“This was an independent inspection, and it is important that I approach its findings with an open mind,” Williams said in the release. He said he will give the report “the careful consideration it deserves” before deciding on any directives for the city. The province said the report’s release is not a decision on further action.

“The report is intended to provide a factual record of the inspection and its conclusions,” Goldie said.

Day-to-day operation of municipal water infrastructure remains the city’s responsibility. The report lands as Calgarians live with the aftermath of the failures. The city’s water restrictions began Nov. 4 and are expected to last about four weeks, and a boil water advisory was issued for about 100 homes in October.

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