Hudson council expected to table a watering ban for heat waves

Hudson town council is expected to table a watering ban and hire inspectors to make sure restrictions are respected in anticipation of a summer heat wave or dry spell.

A watering ban resolution, pulled from the agenda just prior to start of the June council meeting, is expected to be reintroduced during the upcoming July 6 meeting.

Town council was recently given a briefing of a study of its potable water supply system by the environmental firm AMEC and, upon reflection, it seems a watering ban option as well as further investments in the network might be required, Mayor Ed Prévost said.

“Rights now, of course, we have gazillions of gallons of water, but we don’t know what summer has in store for us. If we should get to a dry period, typically in July and August, then we will enforce the water rules that exist. We do have rules about water usage,” he said.

While Hudson has an existing bylaw that requires people to limit watering on alternating days during certain hours, it has never imposed a complete ban but has to be ready for a dry spell, the mayor said.

“These water rules are all well and good, but if they are not enforced, then people tend to use and abuse and circumvent the rules,” he said.

“We will see if, perhaps, we hire people to survey the situation to make sure everybody falls into line. The second step is, of course, to consider an outright ban depending on the supply of water as we progress towards the summer. It depends on how serious the situation is.

“We need to sensitize people to the

fact that water is a very important resource that should be used properly and not necessarily to clean cars and that kind of stuff. Beyond that, we are going to be doing an inspection of our water lines to make sure that none of them are leaking,” he continued.

As for the engineering report, it noted the town’s usage, its capacity to produce potable water and highlighted potential periods of shortage, Prévost said.

“They also projected going forward, as development occurs, that we are going to require more water. We have to factor in all of those issues,” the mayor said. “We have a water filtration plant, but all of our water comes from five wells. One of the wells is not being used because the quality (of water) is inadequate. It contains too much manganese and sodium and all kinds of nasty things. We may use (that particular well) for flower beds but not for potable water,” he added.

The town will eventually have to open a new well as a source for potable water, the mayor said.

“We know where the next well should be located,” he said, adding Quebec government approvals and plans still need to be formalized. “It can take from seven to nine months,” he said of the process of opening a new well.