WATCH | Calgary’s water usage drops as major feeder repairs near completion

A day after the mayor of Calgary issued an urgent appeal to residents to drastically reduce their water consumption, water consumption was back to an acceptable level on Friday.

During her regular livestream update Saturday morning, Jyoti Gonek said Calgarians had heeded city officials’ call and reduced consumption to 460 million gallons on Friday.

The mayor and city officials reported that water consumption rose a day earlier to the highest level since the crisis began. By Thursday this had risen to 500 million litres.

That’s a level that has left the city in a “vulnerable state,” according to Sue Henry, head of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency.

Also on Saturday morning, Gondek said city workers began pushing water through the supply line to flush the pipe, a necessary step before service can be restored.

City officials will provide another update on the water main repairs at 2 p.m. Saturday. Watch the update live here or on CBC Alberta’s YouTube page.