Stellarton develops new water conservation measures

The Town of Stellarton has a developed a new policy to conserve water when levels in the East River become low.

Stellarton gets its drinking water from the river and for the past five years, water levels have dropped during the summer months.

The province had asked for a water conservation plan by the end of October.

"When flows reach certain levels in the river, we have to restrict water use for residential and commercial businesses," said Blaine Murray, the town's engineer.

"A flow meter will be installed in the next couple of months."

Murray said water levels will be monitored between July and September. As the river drops, there will be three stages of conservation.

Restrictions on outdoor use

Mayor Danny MacGillivray said stage one will restrict the use of outdoor water — such as filling pools, washing cars and watering lawns — to every second day.

He said stage two will be using outdoor water twice a week, and stage three will be "no outdoor use, period."

Town council approved the policy on Monday, but Coun. Simon Lawand questioned how it will be enforced.

"This is a great plan," said Lawand. "The question I have is how are we going to control it?"

Town officials agreed that the next step is to turn the policy into a bylaw so the rules can be enforced by either a bylaw officer or police.

"This [policy] is mandatory — we have to do this," said Murray. "But it's also good stewardship of our natural resources."

Other councillors warned that if residents don't follow conservation restrictions during droughts, than other less desirable changes could be imposed.

"I have a concern that if we don't do something, then down the road we'll be forced to put water meters [on residences]," said Deputy Mayor Bryan Knight. "That's not something I want to see."

Currently only commercial businesses in Stellarton have water meters. Residents pay a flat fee for their water.