Construction & Maintenance

Our Mandate

The Construction & Maintenance (C&M) Section of The City’s Utilities Department works to protect the health of our Citizens and the environment by performing rehabilitation services for our water, wastewater, and storm systems. This helps to ensure consistent and sustainable high quality, quantity, and reliability of water and wastewater service with operations that are fiscally, environmentally and socially responsible for you and our future generations.

Our Standard Excavation Process

There are several steps we undertake to rehabilitate our water distribution and wastewater collection systems.

Our starting point is to call Utility Safety Partners (USP) with the area we plan to perform ground disturbance activities at. During this process you will see Facility Locate Technicians from Atco, Telus, Shaw, EL&P (and other shallow utility representatives) in and around your property. They will be leaving paint marks and flags to mark the locations of the underground utilities in the area. See our utility locations page for further information.

Once the utility locates have been completed, the site is scheduled for excavation. The work should be completed within 30 days of the original facility locates. If the work was unable to be completed in the initial allocated timeframe (possibly due to many factors such as pop-up emergency work, inclement weather, current progress on previously scheduled work, and other factors), we will need to re-locate the area and re-schedule the work for a later time.

Using heavy equipment and City staff, we will complete the repair or replacement on the deep utility, (i.e. water / sanitary / storm sewer). The excavations can vary in size depending on the depth and the scope required to complete the rehabilitation. Please note that during the excavation process, we use heavy compaction vibratory equipment to compact the ground as best we can to help lessen settlements and deterioration of our trench. Please secure any valuables from being damaged during this process.

During the completion of the work, short interruptions to the supply of water may occur. During any periods that the water is shut off, water cooled or dependent equipment should be checked and/or shut down, and checks should be made to ensure all faucets are closed. Once the water is turned back on, the water should run for a few minutes, or until the line is clear of air.

After the work is complete, the crew will do their best to leave the job site clean and organized. Our goal is to leave the property functional and clean up any debris that was made during the excavation process.

Our current standard is to repair private property that we have disturbed during excavations. The first step of our reinstate process is to have Parks and Public Works Department (PPW) complete all concrete and asphalt repairs.

Once concrete and asphalt have been installed, we will complete our landscaping and fence repairs.  All private property landscaping repairs are contracted out. For further information regarding our landscaping reinstatement process please call 403-342-8750.

If our excavation was completed late fall or winter, concrete and asphalt repairs will commence in the spring or early summer. For further information regarding asphalt and concrete reinstatement, please call 403-342-8238.

The City tore my fence down and dug up my yard. When will my yard be repaired and my fence replaced?
Landscaping and Fence Replacement

Our current standard is to repair private property that we have disturbed during excavations. All private property landscaping repairs are currently contracted out. Landscaping repairs will commence after any adjacent asphalt or concrete that was disturbed during our excavation has been replaced. Our landscape contractor will contact the property owner to make arrangements for property access and to confirm their scope of work.

For further information regarding our landscaping reinstatement process please call the Utilities department at 403-342-8750.

Why is the City's Construction & Maintenance Team working on my property or in my area?
Types of excavation work we complete.

Water Service Shut-Off Valve Repairs

A common task that we need to complete on many properties across the City are repairs to your water service shut off valve or the valve box itself. Every water-serviced property in Red Deer has a shut-off valve that isolates the property from the water supply. This valve is very important to the property in any event that requires the water to be shut off. For example if you are performing renovations or need to complete plumbing repairs, a common request is to have the water temporarily shut off while the Plumber is completing work. In the event of an emergency where your private water line or plumbing may be leaking, a working water service shut-off valve is important to isolate the property to stop the leak from damaging your property (or adjacent properties).

The work involved to complete this water shut off valve repair includes hydro-excavating a small (approximately) 1 meter x 1 meter  hole to replace the metal tube that provides access to the property valve down below. The water valve itself is tested and as long as it is functioning properly, the hole gets backfilled and the utility work is complete. If the water valve down below does not function properly, then we need to re-schedule the site for a mechanical excavation using a backhoe to replace the water valve. This excavation is a lot more involved and disruptive. Once the valve replacement has been completed, surface repairs such as asphalt, concrete and landscaping will be reviewed and scheduled appropriately. Asphalt and concrete reinstatements completed by our Parks & Public Works Department start take place in May of each year and continue through to the end of October as weather permits.

Water, Sanitary & Storm Service Replacements

Most properties in the City are serviced with water, sanitary and storm services. These services will require maintenance to keep these lines functioning properly. The City is responsible for the service lines from the property line out to the mains in the street or lane. When these service lines start to break down, sometimes an excavation is required for the repair. The excavation for this type of work can be quite extensive and disruptive to your property. Depending on the location of your property line, utility-right-of-way's that are within your property, and the depth of the services, the excavation will vary in size. To keep the excavation safe for our workers, this could mean that any trees or bushes within the dig zone area will need to be removed. Our current level of service is to replace the trees or bushes, however we will not replace them back in the same location if they were within 6 meters of the service alignment as per City Bylaw.

I would like to talk with someone about the work that the City is performing on my property. How can I do this?
Compliments, Complaints, and Claims

If you would like to talk to someone in regards to the excavation work that the City is doing or has completed on your property or nearby, please see below for our phone number and email address.

The Construction crew working outside shut my water off. When will it be turned back on?
I have no water! Who can I talk to?

During our excavation to repair water and wastewater infrastructure, we may need to temporarily interrupt your supply of water to complete a repair or to make the repair work in our excavation safer for the crew. We will use our best efforts to minimize these inconveniences and to provide you with appropriate notification of the water-off. 

During any periods the water is shut off: 

  1. Water cooled or dependent equipment should be checked and/or shut down.
  2. A check should be made to ensure all faucets are closed.
  3. Once the water is turned back on, the water should run for a few minutes, or until the line is clear of air.

If you have further questions or concerns about the supply of your water, please call Utilities Department at 403-342-8750.

The City completed an excavation and the ground area is subsiding / settling out causing a hazard.
Reporting a settlement from an excavation.

If you encounter an excavation that has settled or is creating a hazard, please call Utilities Department at 403-42-8750 to report the concern. You can also email us the concern to environmentalservices@reddeer.ca.