City of St. Albert crews have turned the taps back onto full today by cancelling its water demand measures.
The City of St. Albert rescinded its Water Demand Management Measure “A” at about 4 p.m. July 25. The move means city crews can resume all non-essential water use.
In an email, City of St. Albert senior utilities manager Regan Lefebvre said cool weather and rain had substantially reduced the city’s water use by July 25, with most reservoirs expected to be nearly full by that evening. That meant the city could drop its “A”-level water restrictions and operate as normal.
The city implements water demand measures when water levels in its reservoirs drop to certain levels.
Speaking July 24, Lefebvre said high heat over the July 20 weekend caused a spike in demand, draining about 50 per cent of the city’s reservoirs by July 21. That prompted the city to implement “A”-level restrictions on municipal water use on July 22, followed by stricter “B”-level limits later that day.
“A”-level restrictions activate when the city’s reservoirs dip below 50 per cent capacity. These require city crews to cease non-essential uses of potable water, such as hydrant flushing, non-emergency sewer flushing, street sweeping, dust abatement, pool filling, park watering, firefighter training, and car washing. “B”-level limits kick in at 30 per cent, and add use of water for construction, ice surface establishment, bulk water stations, and the Versailles Park Splash Pad by city crews to the list of bans.
Had the water situation gotten worse, Lefebvre said the city could have moved into “C”-level restrictions and implemented a total outdoor water use ban for all residents.
“All our water demand measures are heavily focused on curbing outdoor water use,” Lefebvre said, which isn’t particularly useful if you have a water shortage in winter or a water main break (such as the one Calgary had earlier this summer).
Lefebvre said he planned to present new water rationing measures to council later this year that the city could implement should such a dire water shortage ever happen — a situation he saw as unlikely, as the city had multiple water lines for its reservoirs.
“We’ve got a lot of redundancy built into our supply. We don’t expect we’ll be in a situation like [Calgary’s],” he said.
Visit stalbert.ca for updates on the city’s water demand management measures.
