Calgary Daily Digest — Jan 9, 2026

Bearspaw feeder main: crews begin mitigation and partial service restore

• Work under way at two sites on the north bank of the Bow River as crews refill the hole along 16th Ave NW and slowly restore flow through the pipe.
• City warns the pipe that burst on Dec. 30 remains fragile; Mayor Jeromy Farkas: “We are turning the corner... we’re not in the clear yet.”
• The feeder main normally supplies about 60% of Calgary’s drinking water.

Water use still too high as repairs enter critical stage

• Calgary used 508 million litres on Thursday, up from 507 million litres Wednesday and above the sustainable threshold of 485 million litres.
• Officials renewed urgent appeals for conservation to ensure water for essential services while repair work continues.

Independent panel: former councillors say they didn’t know feeder main’s fragility

• Panel report says the Bearspaw feeder main was designated for inspection in 2017, 2020 and 2022 but inspections were redirected or delayed.
• The same type of pipe had a similar rupture in northeast Calgary in 2004; the feeder carries 60% of the city’s drinking water.

Calgary homicide investigation in Canyon Meadows

• Police investigating suspicious death of a woman in her 80s at a home in the 13000 block of Canterbury Gardens SW; call came in around 10:50 a.m.
• Autopsy confirmed homicide; another woman has been taken into custody. Police say killing is believed domestic; names withheld.

‘Absolute crisis’: Alberta E.R. doctors press for state of emergency

• Emergency doctors, led by Dr. Raj Sherman, say demand exceeds supply of critical care in the Edmonton zone and call the situation a “medical disaster.”
• Sherman: worst conditions in his 35‑year career; physicians urge provincial emergency declaration.

Auto insurers lost $1.2 billion in Alberta in 2024

• Alberta Superintendent of Insurance annual report: majority of auto insurers were unprofitable, losing more than $1.2 billion on auto insurance in 2024.
• Superintendent warns escalating claim costs may exceed the province’s Good Driver Rate Cap; the Insurance Bureau of Canada says the cap is unsustainable.