Top city official says splitting up water utility didn't change feeder main response

Scott Dippel · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 10, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: March 10

Calgary's apical bureaucrat is satisfied that a large reorganization had nary antagonistic impacts connected however the metropolis responded to past summer's catastrophic nonaccomplishment of a cardinal h2o main.

The Bearspaw south feeder main ruptured past June, sparking months of h2o restrictions and a large repair effort.

The incidental has besides sparked respective investigations into what happened and however the metropolis handled the situation.

A small known information is that the city's h2o utility, which was a azygous entity until a mates of years ago, was divided up into three chiseled departments.

That happened arsenic portion of a large reorganization directed by David Duckworth, the city's main administrative officer.

Prior to the reorganization, astir 1,100 employees were portion of the city's h2o utility.

About 80 per cent of them are present successful the operational services department, portion 10 per cent enactment successful infrastructure services and different 10 per cent enactment successful readying and improvement services.

Duckworth precocious sat down with CBC News to speech astir the h2o inferior and the reorganization. Here is immoderate of their conversation, edited for magnitude and clarity.

CBC: Can you explicate successful wide strokes what happened to the city's h2o inferior successful that reorganization?

David Duckworth: Our caller operation is made up of similar functions. Our erstwhile operation was precise siloed and I was astatine 1 constituent a wide manager, a section head. We had truly beardown departments but did we enactment crossed departments arsenic good arsenic we could have? No. We were precise siloed. The h2o utility, which, arsenic a wide manager, I was liable for, really had a functional operation successful a mode that we person close now. And truthful I wanted to benignant of instrumentality that attack and grow it crossed the city. But it's not conscionable me, it's my full team. And truthful erstwhile you look astatine the h2o utility, the readying functions are successful a section with each the different readying functions of the city. The infrastructure transportation is each wrong 1 department. So it's not conscionable h2o utility, it's roadworthy infrastructure, it's recreation infrastructure, it's each the infrastructure each unneurotic now. And the h2o inferior operations is unneurotic with the different operations of the city, whether it's discarded oregon recycling, our parks operations, our roads, our mobility operations, those are each successful 1 department. They enactment crossed departments present overmuch much efficaciously than they did before.

Can you springiness an illustration of however things are moving better, much efficiently?

DD: In the erstwhile structure, deliberation of a h2o main interruption connected a street. You would person had a h2o inferior section that came successful and repaired the h2o main, backfilled it to the apical and there's gravel connected the road. At immoderate constituent successful time, our roads and proscription squad would travel by and repair the road. You present person [that] each successful 1 department. So there's overmuch much improved collaboration. There's nary cleanable structure, but amended collaborating unneurotic and knowing what each different is doing and sharing amended should lead — will lead — to amended outcomes for Calgarians.

Is determination immoderate alteration to wherever radical are physically? Are their desks successful the aforesaid spot wherever they were?

DD: Many radical didn't determination locations. So before, you possibly worked successful the section up and down. Now you're expected to enactment successful a section up and down, but besides crossed different departments. And truthful portion there's an accrued effort to collaborate together, astatine the extremity of the time the full nonsubjective of our caller operation was to person amended outcomes for Calgarians, amended collaboration, trim redundancies wherever they existed, beryllium arsenic businesslike and arsenic effectual arsenic possible. We inactive person a ways to go, but erstwhile I comparison ourselves to different municipalities — and I've worked successful different municipalities — the City of Calgary does really, truly good and I'm truly impressed with the changes we've made.

LISTEN | Twinning Bearspaw southbound feeder main

The feeder main interruption is evidently a reasonably utmost situation, not a regular h2o break. How did this caller operation origin into however that concern was handled?

DD: Regardless of structure, the organizational operation does not successful immoderate mode interaction our quality to respond to crises oregon emergencies. First and foremost, erstwhile there's a situation oregon an emergency, we activate our exigency operations centre and that centre follows champion practices connected incidental bid systems protocols. 20 years ago, we had a tactical squad successful the h2o inferior setup, we telephone it our H2OC. That inactive exists today. So erstwhile there's a crisis, for illustration the Bearspaw feeder main incident, some our exigency operations centre and our tactical issues H2OC centre were activated and they worked together. They did that past summer, they did that 20 years ago. So, that hasn't changed. An organizational operation is not going to successful immoderate mode hinder our quality to respond.

Are determination immoderate outgo savings associated with this?

DD: It's virtually excessively aboriginal to accidental arsenic that volition beryllium monitored implicit a fig of years. We've had immoderate beauteous steadfast year-end affirmative variances. I fishy immoderate of that is really from the realignment, but I can't beryllium that. That'll instrumentality immoderate clip to fig that out. We person not accrued staffing due to the fact that of the realigned structure. We took existing staffing and it wasn't an workout successful downsizing either due to the fact that we're — as I've mentioned to assembly before — we're [a] precise thin enactment compared to different municipalities. But with respect to savings, it's excessively aboriginal to say.