Calgary water use drops from 'red' to 'yellow zone'

After several days in which Calgarians were consistently using more than 500 million litres of water, Saturday saw a reduction of nine million litres from the day before, bringing the total down to 496 million litres.  

In the city's regular update on the water situation Sunday afternoon, Calgary's director of climate and environment, Carolyn Bowen, said this level of demand puts the city in the "yellow zone," which indicates a strained water plant system while the main feeder pipe is out of service for critical repairs.

"When demand trends between 485-500 million litres, which is our yellow zone, the plant is working harder and preventive maintenance activities are more challenging to complete, increasing the risk of an operational failure," Bowen said during the afternoon livestream.

The city would like to see consumption levels in the "green zone," which means usage below the target of 485 million litres per day. Bowen says this allows for safe and sustainable operations of the Glenmore Water Treatment Plant.

With the Bearspaw feeder main out of service, the Glenmore plant is producing approximately 70 per cent of the city's water supply. Normally at this time of year that figure would be 30 per cent, with Bearspaw producing the rest.

Bowen thanked Calgarians for bringing consumption levels out of the "red zone," where they had been sitting for much of the past week.

"When we enter the red zone — above 500 — we begin running the risk of not being able to keep up with demand and it starts to become increasingly difficult to recover water storage in our underground storage tanks," she said.

Calgary has been under Stage 4 outdoor water use restrictions since August 26. This means no potable water use is permitted outside the home.

For more details on what is and is not allowed under Stage 4 restrictions, visit the city's website.

As of Sunday, Bowen said 26 tickets have been issued for violating the city's outdoor water restrictions. The fine amount for a ticket is $3,000.

She said repair work on the main water feeder main remains on schedule, with repairs completed on 12 of the 21 pipe segments.