While Airdrie was successful in reducing their water consumption by 25 per cent earlier this week, as of yesterday the City's reduction was only at 18 per cent. Under the current conditions, this is not enough, said Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown.
The rate of current consumption will have a large impact on Airdrie's reservoir levels and could potentially mean a reduction in the amount of water Airdrie's homes and businesses receive.
"It's absolutely imperative that residents continue to be vigilant," said Mayor Brown. "It's not a hardship to reduce the amount of water you use [for the bulk of us]."
Water usage needs to be reduced until Calgary's main feeder line is back in service allowing water to flow across the city, he said.
"We don't want to see an issue where consumption exceeds demand because if that start to happen, it impacts the pressure and it impacts our reservoir," Brown said. "Right now we're sitting relatively normal, but we're starting to see a slide and increase in usage and consumption."
He said everyone in Airdrie needs to stick to the plan to reduce their water consumption over the next two weeks. He admitted putting a timeline on this situation is difficult as the new pipe requires a lot of work and testing to protect the water supply.
"There's lots of ways to be creative," Brown said, reiterating suggestions heard in Calgary's water update yesterday. "When you turn your shower on and it's not
instantaneously warm, rather than lose that water put a bucket in there, capture it. Then you can reuse that in other areas of the house. There's lots of ways to be creative, shut the water off when you're washing your hands. Shut it off when you're brushing your teeth. Just don't put the full pressure, use half pressure when you're doing your dishes or you're rinsing your plates or whatever."
He said Airdrie will get through this but needs to be vigilant in the interim.
"We don't want to lose the momentum we gained at the outset [of this situation]," he said. "Let's keep our usage down. Let's just keep consumption down. Let's protect our water supply. Full stop."
