Southern Alberta municipalities urged to reduce water consumption

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The province is “strongly encouraging” southern Alberta municipalities that are not involved in recently signed water sharing agreements to decrease usage and implement reduction measures.

The request comes after the Alberta government signed four voluntary agreements with 38 major southern Alberta water users last week.

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Communities that have been more fortunate with their water supply are paying more attention to their unique situation and not taking anything for granted, said High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass.

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“We’re doing well now, but we know very well that things are going to change,” he said of the southern Alberta city of more than 14,000 residents.

In previous years, Snodgrass said water use was “pretty much a free-for-all” in High River, with no restrictions on when residents could water their lawns or use the water for other outdoor purposes.

But High River Council recently passed a new outdoor water use and restriction bylaw, and now there’s a new normal for residents.

“Normal use now is not a free-for-all, and it’s about watering twice a week,” Snodgrass said.

High River supplies water to Foothills County, which in turn supplies neighboring communities such as the town of Cayley and the village of Aldersyde, and the Cargill meatpacking plant in High River.

“We’ve made it clear to everyone that as we move toward these water restrictions, everyone needs to follow them together in order to help,” Snodgrass said.

Other smaller communities in southern Alberta are also preparing in case they have less water this year. For example, the Vulcan council on Monday implemented a new water conservation bylaw, with water restrictions triggered based on water levels in the Twin Valley Reservoir from which the city draws its water. Other municipal partners of the regional water commission have enacted or will promulgate the same statute.

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“We’re going to engage with the public, letting people know that we encourage them to water on (certain) days so we don’t have to impose restrictions,” Kim Fath, Vulcan’s managing director, said of the city’s water conservation efforts. . .

Vulcan has also asked the city’s golf course, by far the largest user of water, to come up with its own conservation plan by mid-May.

Pincher Creek CEO already under ‘extreme restrictions’ due to water shortage

Communities do not want to end up in a situation like the one currently facing the Pincher Creek Municipal District, which has had mandatory Stage 3 (Extreme) water restrictions since August 16, 2023. Stage 4, the most critical level of restrictions, it would limit the use of potable water to only essential uses, such as drinking and showering, and rule out commercial use.

“Stage 3 already includes extreme restrictions and is above any other restrictions we know of in the southern zone,” David Desabrais, the municipality’s infrastructure and public services manager, said in an email to Postmedia.

The municipality had been temporarily pumping from Oldman Reservoir, but rising water levels have made it too risky to continue doing so, and is again trucking water daily to drinking water users, including the small communities of Lundbreck , in southwestern Alberta. Cowley and Beaver mines, as well as Castle Mountain.

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However, Pincher Creek’s CEO is working on a project to eliminate the need for water hauling by installing more drought-resistant underground intakes within the Oldman Reservoir bed near the Crowsnest River. The municipality plans to stop transporting water at the end of May.

It is unknown when the Pincher Creek MD will exit Stage 3. That will depend on the success of current efforts and the overall drought outlook for this spring, Desabrais said.

Desabrais said it’s unclear how successful water conservation efforts have been so far, but residents warned about high consumption and reduced use.

The MD has closed some of its bulk water filling stations and asked residents to use an MD-owned filling station in Pincher Creek that comes from a different water supply, resulting in longer and inconvenient trips for residents, Desabrais said.

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