Okotoks mayor questions Calgary water conservation

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Calgary's commitment to water conservation amid the ongoing drought is being questioned by one of its neighbors.

Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorne said it's time Calgary and other communities like hers, which has been struggling with dwindling water for two decades, get serious about reducing water use.

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“How come my community only uses water six hours a week (outdoors in the warmer months) while our neighbors use it 168 hours?” Thorne said, referring mainly to Calgary.

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“Is that fair, is that fair?” How do we move in similar steps to shoulder the same burden to overcome the drought?”

Earlier this week, Thorne was one of six members of Alberta's new Water Advisory Committee, which advises the province on ways to deal with the drought.

He said his appointment stems from his city's experience balancing continued growth with increasingly limited water supplies.

The city of 32,000 people south of Calgary adopted measures more than a decade ago, including a three-tier billing system for water users and a six-hour-a-week outdoor limit.

The city also encourages the replacement of grass lawns with non-water alternatives and the use of good construction practices.

Calgary adopted a two-hour residential outdoor watering limit for 2 1/2 months last summer and fall, which city officials said was successful in reducing consumption by 1.5 billion liters.

While Thorne called the move an exception, it is the first time the city has done so because of the drought.

“How do we look at this over the long term as not just an anomaly?” he said.

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The city says its daily per capita water consumption is 173 litres, compared to Calgary's 350 litres.

Okotoks, he said, attributes its growth patterns to water availability, noting that his city has a limited supply in the Sheep River, although there are plans to pump into the Bow River.

According to Thorne, the source of the Sheep River in the Rockies is 50 percent below normal.

There are more than 50 water shortage alerts Albertariver basins in the northern and southern parts of the province critical scarcity due to low rainfall.

Flows in the Bow River last year were the lowest since records were first kept in 1911, and the Lock River, Calgary's other source of drinking water, was at a 23-year low.

Scientists believe this is the result of climate change, characterized by the warming effects of the El Nino weather pattern in recent months.

“We're probably going to see increased (conservation) efforts in my community,” Thorne said, adding that he opposes using water to green lawns.

“We need it for human health and food production.”

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If the drought persists as expected, Okotoks could aim to use domestic water later this year, said Jeremy Huet, the city's manager of community development and engineering.

“It's best to plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Huet said.

Thorne said he hopes the newly formed committee will provide a meaningful way to work together on water conservation issues, and said Okotoks is open to sharing its insights.

“For the last three years, we have been raising the flag for water management with our neighbors – we live in the same watershed,” he said.

Calgary officials say the city has made significant progress in reducing per capita water use by 30 per cent over two decades, while not increasing water withdrawals from the Bow River in that time.

“Calgary did a great job,” said the 9th-Con. Gian-Carlo Carra attended the Calgary City Regional Board meeting on Friday to discuss cooperation on water conservation.

“Everyone understands that we are going through a crisis. . . The city of Calgary knows we're in for a punishing drought, we've known that for years.”

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Despite the recent snowfall, snowpack in the Rockies remains below average, and if that trend continues, the city may consider tightening water use regulations, Nicole Newton said. natural environment and adaptation manager.

“Calgarians can expect outdoor water restrictions, perhaps sooner and longer than what we've had,” Newton said.

He said Calgary is “decades behind other cities” after having the highest per capita water use in Canada, noting that the city only completed universal water metering in 2014, while Edmonton has had a version of the system for 120 years. Edmonton's per capita consumption is 17 percent lower than Calgary's.

Newton said the city is following Okotoks' conservation strategy and “we plan to adopt some of these initiatives.”

Carra said progress needs to be made on flood and drought mitigation measures on the Bow River upstream of Calgary in the form of a reservoir that the province is currently evaluating.

“The political will to achieve it will be the single biggest silver lining to this drought,” Carra said.

In late January, the province announced it would begin negotiations on water-sharing agreements among major licensees, with negotiations set to begin early this month.

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