WESTLOCK – Although water usage totals are approaching double the norm, Town of Westlock residents shouldn’t expect a water ban, or restriction anytime soon unless usage doubles yet again.
At the July 12 Town of Westlock council meeting, operations director Robin Benoit told councillors that the current average daily water consumption figure is around 3,150 cubic metres, which is close to 40 per cent higher than the 1,700 cubic metres used daily over the winter months. Benoit blamed the escalation on the continued dry weather, which has forced more people to water their lawns and gardens, as well as increased bulk water sales.
“We do average across the year 1,900 cubic metres daily and in the summer time we’ll see some peaks of around 2,500 cubic metres. What we’re seeing today is around 3,100 cubic metres of water. In context that’s 6.2 million of these a day,” said Benoit holding up a 500-millitre bottle.
In past years during similar dry spells, the Town of Westlock has implemented water bans and restrictions — in 2009, a town-wide watering ban limited properties with odd-numbered addresses to watering their lawns and gardens only on odd-numbered days, and even-numbered properties on even-numbered days. The town’s water and sewer bylaw, passed in 2013, codified the restrictions and also introduced fines of up to $250 for those who flaunted the ban.
CAO Simone Wiley, who’s been with the municipality since 2015, was taken aback when informed of the past restrictions and said they have no similar plans, unless usage skyrockets even further. The region’s water system is owned by the Westlock Regional Water Services Commission, with includes reps from the town, Westlock County and Village of Clyde. The town is contracted by the water commission to operate the system.
“Environmentally we should always be concerned about water conservation, but from a shortage perspective, no, we’re in very good shape. We’re not to a point to where we need to be concerned,” said Wiley, following consultations with the town’s utility supervisor and director of operations.
Wiley explained that they are able to pump raw water from the Pembina River at twice the capacity of the water treatment plant, while the plant can produce twice the amount of treated water than what’s currently being consumed at the daily peak.
And while the Pembina River is low due to the ongoing heat wave, they have a raw-water draw structure that takes this into account, Wiley noted in a follow-up e-mail.
“We have a very well-designed system with lots of available capacity. Our raw water reservoir has about 230 days of storage that is used to settle the turbidity to keep our operating costs low. Our current daily average would have to double before we would need to consider water rationing,” Wiley wrote in an e-mail, noting they also fill up the raw storage facility in the winter to get a head start when demand increases.
“And if we do need to do another draw (of water) we certainly can.”
