The Town of Okotoks has said it is running at capacity for its recreation and aquatic facilities following Calgary’s water main break. 

In a statement to Okotoks Online, the Town said it welcomes its neighbours from Calgary but its first priority is providing these services and programs to local residents. 

“We have made attempts to help accommodate some of the needs, however, we are currently running over capacity,” the statement reads. “Thank you to members of our community for their patience.” 

The Town said that to ensure you secure a spot for lane swimming, book your swim sessions in advance through activeokotoks.ca. to help manage the increased demand and reduce wait times.

Okotoks is not the only neighbouring community experiencing an uptick of people coming from Calgary to use their facilities. 

The Town of High River also sent a statement saying its aquatics facility has seen a rise in usage and they're working to minimize impact on regular users.

The SLS Centre in Cochrane is doing its best to accommodate an influx of Calgarians using its programs. 

Last Saturday alone, the aquatic centre had a 35 per cent week-over-week increase in pool use. 

Meanwhile, Calgary city officials are aiming for July 5 as the estimated "low end" date to ease water restrictions and finish repairs on the five remaining damaged areas of the south Bearspaw water feeder main.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek reiterated that repair work is underway to the additional damaged areas in the feeder main, and yesterday, the sections of the pipe were fully excavated. Work has started to cut out the sections where the damaged areas were identified.

-With files from Noel Edey and Anna Ferensowicz