The City of Weyburn is three months away from a “critical” shortage of water, and city council has decided to reintroduce the water conservation bylaw, as well as a fire ban for the city, which went into effect on Tuesday morning.
The water conservation bylaw passed all three readings on Monday night to come into effect, in spite of a voiced concern by Mayor Marcel Roy that the bylaw is not strong enough, and needs stronger measures in order to be effective.
Council was told that currently Nickle Lake is one metre below full, with virtually no runoff to replenish its supplies, and the long-term forecast is for above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation.
A one-metre depletion of Nickle Lake amounts to a 43 per cent decrease of lake storage capacity, city engineer Nader Keshta told council, and if the lake level continues to get lower, it will make it much more difficult for the water filtration plant to purify the water properly for the city’s water supply.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw noted the bylaw gives the city to strengthen the water restrictions without the need for the bylaw to come back to council to pass it.
“I do very much encourage the residents of Weyburn to conserve water this year. It’s extremely important,” he said.
A water conservation bylaw had been in place until it was removed two years ago.
Student council representative Louise Pascua urged the city to ensure there is a full education of the public if they are going to enact this conservation bylaw, noting that during the summer, children will be at home for summer holidays while their parents are working, and they need to know there is a need to conserve water.
Asked if there were any charges laid when the bylaw was in place before, police chief Marlo Pritchard said the police received some complaints, but they didn’t lay many charges.
Mayor Roy asked the engineer if the city is at the critical stage yet for water supply, and Shabbir Sakrani of the water filtration plant answered that when Nickle Lake reaches two metres below full, it will then be at a critical shortage point. He added that as of Monday, the lake is 1.04 metres below full.
“It depends on how hot we get,” he said, estimating it may take three months for the lake to reach the critical point, if there is no moisture received in the coming months.
Mayor Roy said he did not support the bylaw, as in his opinion it was not nearly strong enough.
“While we hope for the best, we must plan for the worst,” he said. “It’s important we understand where we are going.”
“I don’t disagree that we should be looking at this,” said Coun. Van Betuw. “I don’t feel this is a temporary situation. In the bylaw, we have the ability to enforce it and to make it stronger. We have to do something now.”
Noting that the situation is urgent, he urged the mayor to help unanimously vote for the bylaw to be put in place Monday night, rather than forcing the bylaw to wait for another two weeks to be passed if it didn’t get all three readings.
Mayor Roy asked the police chief if the bylaw is enforceable, and chief Pritchard said it absolutely is.
“Every bylaw is enforceable,” he replied, before being asked if the police department will need to have someone patrolling around to enforce the bylaw.
“That’s hard to say. Can it be enforced? Yes, but what the courts will find, that’s not in our control,” said the police chief.
Coun. Jeff Chessall noted that the city is not offering a summer discount that had been offered in the past to allow people to water their lawns, so he suggested with the rates staying higher, if they use a lot of water on their lawns, in a sense they will be fining themselves.
The mayor said he would vote for the bylaw so it could be passed, but still felt that it wasn’t strong enough the way it is currently worded.
“I still think we should be stronger, but for the sake of moving it forward, we have to. We are putting a fire ban in effect, and we are in a critical state, as we are in a state we haven’t seen since 1980,” said the mayor, adding nobody should be trying to have golf greens for a lawn.
“I’d rather have water for washing and cooking food than for green grass,” said the mayor.
Under the water conservation bylaw, properties with odd-numbered address may water lawns and gardens on Mondays and Thursdays, and even-numbered properties on Tuesdays and Fridays, with Wednesdays to be “waterless Wednesdays” where no outside use of city water will be allowed. On days when watering is allowed, there is to be no lawn or garden watering between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and residents are urged not to allow sprinklers to spray water on sidewalks or roads, and that watering be for a maximum of one hour.
An exemption to the watering restriction is a property with newly-constructed lawns with either new sod or seeding. In this cases, the property owner must obtain a permit from City Hall to be eligible for the exemption.
Fines to residents who violate the bylaw start at $250 for the first offence and double on the second and third offences, and on the fourth offence the water service will be terminated to that property. For non-residential and industrial water users, fines start at $2,500 and double on the second and third offences, and the water supply will be terminated on the fourth offence.
In other business, the council passed a new bylaw to regulate the use of fireworks and pyrotechnics in the city.
Under this bylaw, family fireworks are allowed on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and on June 30 and Canada Day (July 1).
However, the fire ban which went into effect on Tuesday, banning all open fires of any kind in the city other than a propane barbecue, the ban supercedes the fireworks bylaw, and they cannot be fired off while the ban is in place.
Vendors of fireworks must comply with the Fire Department’s regulations for the sale of fireworks, and fire chief Simon Almond assured council that once it was passed, he would visit all vendors to make sure they understand what the rules and restrictions are to sell fireworks or pyrotechnics, including that no person under the age of 18 is permitted to buy or to set off any fireworks.
