They’re calling for the immediate adoption of a bylaw to restrict household outdoor water use to two days a week, or three hours for each of those days.
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Calgarians should be limited to two days a week of outdoor watering starting this summer in an effort to conserve dwindling water supplies, say city administrators.
That’s one of the recommendations being made to the city’s executive committee on Tuesday, and one that precedes the current water supply crisis stemming from a ruptured feeder main.
It comes following years of drought and expectations climate change will lock in that trend.
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“Our water supply is changing and river flows will be very different in the future because of a changing climate,” states the administration report.
“Administration’s efforts to prepare and respond to drought risks have underscored a need for additional water conservation tools to proactively reduce community-wide water use and enhance community preparedness.”
They’re calling for the immediate adoption of a bylaw to restrict household outdoor water use to two days a week, or three hours for each of those days.
Watering by spray nozzle or hand would still allowed at any time, said the report, but the city should embark on developing a watering schedule for use restrictions.
Information culled from the summer 2024 restrictions “will be used to guide the Water Efficiency Plan policies, programs and
tactics, including finalizing a permanent long-term water schedule for Calgary,” said the report.
Calgary adopted a two-hour residential outdoor watering limit for 2-1/2 months last summer and fall, which city officials deemed a success in reducing consumption by 1.5-billion litres.
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It’s the first time the city had done so for drought reasons and officials last fall said some kind of conservation measures would likely be required in 2024.
That was prompted by the more than 50 water shortage advisories in effect across Alberta last year, with river basins in both northern and southern parts of the province facing critical shortages due to low precipitation.
Water flow in the Bow River in 2022 was the lowest since records were first kept in 1911, while the velocity of the Elbow River — Calgary’s other source of drinking water — was at a 23-year low last year.
Scientists say it’s the result of climate change, which has been accentuated in recent months by the warming influence of the El Nino weather pattern.
This spring, heavy snows and repeated rains have eased the situation somewhat, but scientists say it hasn’t made up for years of drought conditions.
On Saturday, city officials said the ruptured feeder main and its resulting loss of water shouldn’t directly impact Calgary’s supply once it’s fixed.
But they said longer-term conservation solutions are needed to ensure a growing population in a warming climate has enough water in the future.
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“Calgary is a very big city on a small river and we know with the forecast into the future what drought conditions are… and we’ve talked about that for a long time now,” said Nancy Mackay, the city’s water services director.
“We know our behaviours need to be different from what they were 10 years ago… we need to adjust,” said Mackay.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek noted the city is 10 years ahead of its goal set in 2005 to reduce water consumption by 30 per cent in 30 years.
The city said that’s been accomplished by things like water metering, use of lower-flow toilets and increased conservation awareness.
And Gondek said Calgarians’ response to last year’s request to conserve water bodes well for the future.
“Calgarians are very good at understanding when they need to pull together,” she said.
“When we look at the future and the conservation that we need to practise because of drought conditions and environmental conditions, that’s a different approach we’ll be taking as a city and it’s something we’ll be discussing Tuesday at executive committee.”
Scientists say the human-caused, increasingly rapid retreat of Rocky Mountain glaciers means less late-summer-autumn water supply security for downstream communities like Calgary.
X (Twitter) @BillKaufmannjrn
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