Calgary lost 23% of water to leaks in 2025, city approves $342M fix
Over 120 million litres daily escaped through aging pipes. Council backed the investment to find leaks faster and avoid building a second water plant.
Calgary hemorrhaged 23 per cent of its treated drinking water in 2025—roughly 120 million litres a day—through leaks and system inefficiencies, a report to council revealed Tuesday.
That's enough to fill 80 Olympic-sized swimming pools during summer heat waves, according to Councillor John Pantazopoulos. The city's gravelly, porous soil makes leaks hard to detect; many don't surface where crews can spot them, so teams have to actively hunt for breaks by listening and monitoring.
The planning and infrastructure committee approved a $342 million investment over the next four years to tackle the problem. The money will fund faster leak detection and repair, reducing water loss before a second treatment plant becomes necessary to meet peak demand.
Councillor Andre Chabot framed the spending as cost avoidance: building new capacity to compensate for system losses would run far higher than fixing the pipes themselves. The funding still needs full council approval.
The water loss mirrors vulnerabilities exposed by two recent failures of the Bearspaw South Feeder Main—reminders that Calgary's aging distribution network is under strain.