{"id":7858,"date":"2024-11-20T16:44:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=7858"},"modified":"2024-11-22T10:14:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T14:14:35","slug":"cut-water-consumption-in-half-region-of-queens-tells-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/11\/20\/cut-water-consumption-in-half-region-of-queens-tells-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Cut water consumption in half, Region of Queens tells customers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Region of Queens released this graphic on Friday morning to illustrate water levels in the Town Lake Reservoir (Credit: Region of Queens Municipality)<\/p><\/div>\n

UPDATED Nov. 22 at 10:15 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Region of Queens is asking its municipal water users to cut their consumption in half.<\/span><\/p>\n

The municipality first sounded the alarm on Nov. 1 about dropping water levels in the Town Lake Reservoir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, the situation has only worsened. Officials say people have not reduced their water use enough to deal with the lack of rainfall.<\/span><\/p>\n

The area has received only about 45 millimetres of rain since the first of October. CAO Cody Joudry told QCCR last week that the region would need at least 50 mm of rain a week to improve things.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the past few weeks, the region has appealed to the 1,400 residential and commercial water utility customers in Liverpool and Brooklyn to conserve water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, the region issued its strongest advisory yet<\/a>, asking customers to cut their usage by 50 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n

The advisory does not apply to the Cowie Well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR on Thursday that the newest advisory was necessary because water levels continue to drop.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve just continued on the same trajectory towards a situation we don’t want to find ourselves in. The updated (communications) strategy is around giving people a target to work toward to manage their own consumption or water conservation efforts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The region released more information on Friday morning, explaining the current water levels in more detail, including a graphic to illustrate.<\/p>\n

“At full capacity, the Town Lake Reservoir has a maximum depth of nine feet above the water intake pipe,” according to the release. “Currently, the water level stands at six feet. If levels reach five feet, it triggers the Warning Level, where reduced water pressure could impact the entire system. While the system is operating at lower pressure, it remains functional.”<\/p>\n

Some people who commented on the region\u2019s latest post on Facebook said they\u2019re frustrated with the region\u2019s efforts to put the word out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian said he understands people\u2019s discontent. He said council plans to discuss the region\u2019s long-term water plans and better communication with residents at their meeting on Monday evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think those are all good and fair questions to be asking right now. … It\u2019s something that members of the council definitely take seriously. The things that we need to right now right now, is we need to conserve water right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

People also wondered why the municipality is flushing some fire hydrants in certain areas. Christian said he appreciates people pointing that out, but said they need to do that to avoid contaminating the water supply. Still, he said officials will look at ways to limit the flow of water from those hydrants.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region also responded on Friday morning to concerns about the hydrant flushing.<\/p>\n

“These ‘flusher locations’ are essential to maintain water quality throughout the system,” the release said. “The municipality has reduced flushing rates from 40 to under 5 gallons per minute to conserve water while ensuring safe potable water distribution.”<\/p>\n

Christian told QCCR on Thursday that the best thing to do is for all users to cut their consumption as much as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut what’s most important urgently right now is to try our best as a community to conserve water as much as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Municipal water users have dealt with frustration before. Controversy over an eight-week boil water order in the summer of 2023 forced the Queens water utility to give customers a one-time break on their bills<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other water utilities across the province are also struggling with dwindling water supply. The Halifax region issued water conservation notices last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Region of Queens is asking people to take shorter showers and take baths less often. Flush toilets only when necessary, reduce the number of times you do laundry or dishes, fix leaky pipes and report any suspected leaks in water lines to the municipality at 902-354-7170.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/waterupdatenov2124.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED Nov. 22 at 10:15 a.m. The Region of Queens is asking its municipal water users to cut their consumption in half. The municipality first sounded the alarm on Nov. 1 about dropping water levels in the Town Lake Reservoir.\u00a0 Since then, the situation has only worsened. Officials say people have not reduced their water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[48,39,1017,2631,24,1374,2634,1153,2633,2632,1734],"class_list":["post-7858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-brooklyn","tag-liverpool","tag-municipal-water","tag-queens-water-utility","tag-region-of-queens","tag-region-of-queens-water-utility","tag-town-lake-reservoir","tag-water","tag-water-conservation","tag-water-shortage","tag-water-utility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7858"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7880,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858\/revisions\/7880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}