Residents being asked to conserve water amid drought conditions

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on August 18, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The City of Lethbridge is asking residents to help in any way they can to conserve water as several southern Alberta water basins are experiencing shortages due to extreme heat and dry conditions.
Water and wastewater engineer with the City of Lethbridge, Matt Harker spoke to reporters Thursday at City Hall and said the warm weather and lack of precipitation have created drought conditions and as a proactive measure, they are setting voluntary measures in place.
 He said voluntary action now will help prevent the need for mandatory restrictions in the future.
“The City of Lethbridge takes their water from the Oldman river and largely that comes from water at the Oldman dam, so we’ve been looking at those water levels. They’re decreasing and not really going back up without any rain. That was one of the largest measures,” said Marker.
 He said multiple factors play into it such as weather, temperature, wind and evaporation, but by looking at all the factors, they decided to ask for residents to voluntarily conserve water at this time.
He added that before the voluntary measures become mandatory, there are discussions with the provincial government that will need to take place.
 “The provincial government are the ones that manage the Oldman dam and they’re also aware of the situation all around us. We currently have meetings set up with them for next week to discuss the situation further and maybe that this could be escalated into more of a level 1 type water restrictions,” said Harker.
He explained that a Level 1 mandatory water restriction will involve limiting all outdoor uses including watering lawns which is the number one source of water consumption in the summer, as well as washing cars.
“As part of the announcement we include people that use the Lethbridge water, so currently the City of Lethbridge is producing about 110 million litres per day and all those people are part of that as well, so we’d like to reduce that,” said Harker.
The City of Lethbridge provides water to Coaldale, Coalhurst, Picture Butte, Monarch, Diamond City, Shaughnessy, Iron Springs, Turin and other regional partners. All communities are being asked to help conserve water.
The City is doing its part by suspending washing of City vehicles unless necessary for safety reasons, reducing watering in feature parks, sports fields and schools by 25 per cent, reducing watering in other parks and boulevards by 50 per cent, temporarily closing Gyro Spray Park at Nicholas Sheran and Rotary Fountain in Galt Gardens, while keeping Legacy Park Spray Park open at this time and dry street sweeping where possible.
Some of the ways residents can conserve water include not running the tap unnecessarily, minimize shower time and bath levels, use the washer and dishwasher only when necessary, and consider re-using water whenever possible.
Water conservation efforts are in place until further notice and residents are thanked in advance for their cooperation.
Harker said those interested in checking out the Oldman river and Oldman dam levels, they can do so at rivers.alberta.ca
“Anyone can go on that website and look at the levels of the dam, how much flow is coming down the river and all those things are available,” said Harker.

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