Alta. asks all southern municipalities to cut water use
The province is “strongly encouraging ” southern Alberta municipalities not participating in recently signed water-sharing agreements to decrease usage and implement reduction measures.
The request comes after the Alberta government signed four voluntary deals with 38 major southern Alberta water users last week.
Communities that have been more fortunate with their water supplies are paying more attention to their particular situation and are not taking anything for granted, said High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass.
“We're OK now, but knowing full well things are going to change,” he said of the southern Alberta town of more than 14,000 residents.
In past years, water usage was “pretty much a free-for-all” in High River, with no restrictions on when residents could water their lawns or use water for other outdoor purposes, Snodgrass said.
But High River's council has recently approved a new outdoor water use and restriction bylaw, creating a new normal for residents.
“Normal usage now is not a free-for-all, and it's twice-a-week watering,” said Snodgrass.
High River supplies water to Foothills County, which in turn supplies neighbouring communities such as the village of Cayley and the hamlet of Aldersyde, and the Cargill meat-packing plant in High River.
“We've made it clear to everybody as we go to these water restrictions, everybody needs to abide by them,” said Snodgrass.
Other smaller southern Alberta communities are also preparing for less water this year.
Vulcan's council put in place a new water conservation bylaw on Monday, with restrictions being triggered based on levels in the Twin Valley Reservoir from which the town draws its water.
Other municipal partners in the regional water commission have, or will, enact the same bylaw.
“We're going to do public engagement, letting people know we encourage them to water on (certain) days so we don't have to put restrictions in,” said Kim Fath, Vulcan's chief administrative officer.
Vulcan has also asked the town's golf course, by far the largest water user, to come up with a conservation plan by mid-may.
The Municipal District (MD) of Pincher Creek has had mandatory Stage 3 extreme water restrictions in place since Aug. 16, 2023.
Stage 4, the most critical level of restrictions, would limit potable water usage to essential use only, such as for drinking and taking showers, and would rule out commercial usage.
“Stage 3 is already extreme restrictions and over and above any other restrictions we are aware of in the south zone,” David Desabrais, the municipality's utilities and infrastructure manager, said in an email.
The municipality had temporarily been pumping from the Oldman reservoir, but the rising water level has made that too risky and it is again trucking in water daily for potable water users, which include the small southwestern Alberta communities of Lundbreck, Cowley and Beaver Mines, as well as Castle Mountain.
However, the Municipal District of Pincher Creek is working on a project to eliminate the need for water hauling by installing more drought resilient subsurface intakes within the bed of the Oldman reservoir near the Crowsnest River. The municipality has targeted the end of May to stop hauling water.
When the district will move out of Stage 3 will depend on how successful current initiatives are and the overall drought outlook this spring, said Desabrais.
Desabrais said it's unclear how successful water conservation efforts have been so far, but residents issued warnings about high consumption have cut back on usage.
The MD has closed some of its bulk water fill stations and has asked residents to use an Mdowned fill station in Pincher Creek, which comes from a different water supply, resulting in longer drives — and inconvenience — for residents, said Desabrais.