calgarylens
live record51.0447°N · 114.0719°Walt 1045 m
file 01topic · water7 figuresengagement →claims register →
last updated · 2026.04

Calgary water,
measured against its own ceilings.

Public data on Calgary’s water system, drawn directly from the City of Calgary and its open-data portal. Each figure on this page cites its publisher and any transformation we applied; the JSON behind every chart is committed to the public repository. For the specific public claims being made about these figures — and our responses to them — see the claims register.

water · case filepeak demand · observed
698
ML/day
2025-06-09 — about 73% of plant capacity. Even at peak the plants have headroom; the 2024 Bearspaw rupture showed the feeder main, not capacity, is the system's actual fragility.(/water/daily)
Bow summer flow vs 1912–1941
-28%
30-year means at WSC gauge 05BH004 — early (30 yrs) vs recent (30 yrs). Annual mean has shifted -7%; the summer (Jul–Sep) season — when demand peaks — has dropped further.(/water/bow-flow)
plant capacity · daily
950ML/day
Bearspaw 550 + Glenmore 400 post-upgrade. Binding daily ceiling — annual headroom doesn't help on the worst day.(/water/daily)
residential · 2024
47%
Of total system water — including non-revenue water. Residential is the single largest end use; ICI, regional, and municipal split the remainder of the revenue 78%.(/water/demand#sector-shares)
water loss program · 2027–2030
51%
$179.4M of the $353.9M Plan budget goes to the Accelerated Water Loss Program (pipe replacement, leak detection, cathodic protection).(/water/budget)
[03]

Daily demand & ceilings

Total daily water demand from the City’s public Climate & Environment dashboard, January 2024 onward. Background shading marks Calgary summer (June–September, orange) and winter (December–February, blue) so the seasonal swing is visible at a glance. Four reference lines overlay the demand curve — two true daily ceilings, two annual ceilings shown as daily-average equivalents (annual figure ÷ 365) so they can share the axis:

  • ■ Licence (daily avg): 1,260ML/day — Calgary’s Bow River licence (460k ML/yr) shown as a daily average. Annual ceiling.
  • ■ Plant capacity: 950 ML/day (Bearspaw 550 + Glenmore 400 rated post-upgrade). True daily ceiling.
  • ■ Plan peak-day target (2040): 908 ML/day — ~96% of plant capacity. True daily ceiling.
  • ■ Plan annual cap (daily avg): 638ML/day — the Water Efficiency Plan’s 233k ML/yr ceiling shown as a daily average. Annual ceiling.

Peak observed in this dataset: 698 ML on 2025-06-09 — about 73% of plant capacity and 77% of the 2040 peak target.

Even on the system’s peak observed day, demand sits well below plant capacity — the binding ceiling is daily, not annual. Pass-through of TOTAL_CALGARY_ML from the City’s daily-demand ArcGIS feature service, January 2024 onward. Annual ceilings (licence, Plan cap) are drawn as their daily-average equivalents (annual ÷ 365) so they share the axis with the true daily ceilings (plant capacity, 2040 peak-day target).