Residents urged to curb their water use by 20%
Otonabee Conservation is asking people in the Peterborough area to curb their water consumption by 20 per cent because of low water conditions in the Otonabee River watershed.
A Level 2 low water condition was declared for the entire area Thursday, following on the heels of a Level 1 low water condition issued Sept. 11 that asked people to voluntarily cut water use by 10 per cent.
“Long duration, low intensity rainfall is needed to naturally replenish streams and groundwater supplies. It’s up to all of us to do what we can to conserve water, using it wisely as we go about our daily activities,” stated Gordon Earle, water resources technologist with Otonabee Conservation.
After a wet April and May, there was only 68.5 millimetres of rain in June, 28.7 mm in July, 31 mm in August and 45.3 mm in September in Peterborough, according to Environment Canada. That was well below the normal averages for those months of 79.9 mm for June, 70.6 mm for July, 77 mm for August and 84.5 mm for September. The first two days of October saw 14 mm of rain in Peterborough, according to Environment Canada.
The decision to raise the declaration was made after an analysis of air temperature, precipitation and stream flow data up to Monday, a release from Otonabee Conservation states.
“Precipitation receipts for the preceding three-month period at four out of five monitoring stations in the Otonabee Region watershed recorded below normal conditions,” the release states.
The advisory is for the drainage areas of the Otonabee, Indian and Ouse Rivers within Peterborough city, the City of Kawartha Lakes along with Asphodel-Norwood, Cavan Monaghan, Douro-Dummer, Otonabee-South Monaghan, Selwyn and Trent Hills townships.
Residents, businesses, industries and municipalities are all asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 per cent.
Otonabee Conservation suggests everyone apply water conservation measures in their daily routine and suspend non-essential water uses until natural water supplies recover.