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On Monday, the mayor says progress is looking really good
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Canada Day. July 1.
Mark it on your calendar. The smart money is willing to make a wager.
By that day, a few days before the Stampede, Calgary water will flow freely.
It is a wager and therefore not a sure thing.
There is no guarantee. How could there be?
But I talk to people, smart individuals, on these matters and they say, if the good news keeps on keeping on, we could be back to what passes for normal when June turns into July.
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Of course, it is understandable no one at the city will shorten the date of the water pipe fixes just yet.
There are some unknowns and, let’s face facts, it is better to give a longer timeline — up to five weeks — and then shorten it and come in ahead of the date.
People like that.
It’s like when you bring in your vehicle for servicing and they say it will be ready Friday and it’s ready Thursday.
It is a far better option than overpromising and underdelivering.
And, again let’s face facts, no matter how few times you’ve flushed your toilet or how many three-minute showers you take, every day this busted pipe drags on is not a good look for city hall.
Have to admit the last couple of days Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has looked a little more confident.
More members of city council show up to hear the word.
Yes, the mayor and her braintrust have started doing the things a lot of folks have been shouting from the rooftops about doing for the better part of two weeks.
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Day one of this water crisis was June 5.
Gone is the daily grind of muddled messaging, the playing of politics, the picking of fights, the contradictory information.
There are still no answers on some issues but the day for answers will have to come.
Make no mistake. Feet will be held to the fire.
But on this day we find out the last of the new pipes are on their way.
Private sector contractors are on site. There are private sector consultants in the mix. There are outside experts offering sage advice.
There are big brains from the oilpatch and from construction.
Local businesses are stepping up.
As predicted, Calgarians are buying into cutting down their water use so the city has a large reserve of water, just in case.
On Monday, the mayor says progress is looking really good. She is eagerly awaiting a shipment of those two new pipes from California.
Gondek also talks about the timeline for when the city can declare the all-clear.
“As we know more about the excavation conditions and all the parts are in place we will have a much better ability to give you a better timeline,” says the mayor.
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Better equals shorter.
Coby Duerr from the city’s emergency management team is Captain Enthusiasm.
“The show will go on. The summer will carry forward,” he says, in a tone not heard since former premier Jason Kenney declared the Best Summer Ever.
“Fun is not cancelled. The summer is not cancelled.”
Listening to this dude and I’m ready to party right now.
He says they are “moving heaven and literally earth” to get the five hot spots fixed where there’s crappy pipe that’s “in critical need of repair.”
The man tells us about shovels in the ground and ripping up 16 Ave. to get things done.
Stampede will not be cancelled. They will truck in water or use non-potable water.
He does everything but say Yahoo!
The emergency management guy riding herd on this file says the Stampede isn’t that a big deal when it comes to the overall water use in the city.
Some Calgarians leave town during Stampede and there are often big storms in early July. Rain.
Michael Thompson, a city hall big shot, says work will “be completed as quickly as possible.”
He talks about “repairing this break as quickly as possible” over and over again.
He adds the city will “continue to look for efficiencies to improve timelines.”
Then there’s Mayor Gondek.
She knows the score.
“The very first thing I would say is we need to get the repair done as quickly as possible. We’re working actively on that,” says Gondek.
Canada Day. Don’t bet the farm but bet.
rbell@postmedia.com
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