Those wanting to water their lawns, pressure wash their siding and jump through the sprinkler in Turner Valley this summer now have more clarity around when they can.
Turner Valley Town council amended its Water Conservation Bylaw at its June 7 meeting to make the regulations for outdoor water use for Levels 1, 2 and 3 easier to understand while providing some allowances around the restrictions for Level 3.
Coun. Cindy Holladay was the force behind many of the changes due to confusion around some of the guidelines.
“The wording before was really vague in some areas so you didn’t know what was allowed,” she said. “I just wanted it easier to read. If you’re going to pass it you might as well make it right. It should be laid out really clearly.”
Administration in Black Diamond and Turner Valley reviewed their respective water conservation bylaws collaboratively in 2018 with the intent to update and align them. Black Diamond council renewed its bylaw later that year, but it didn't end up on Turner Valley council's priority list until this year.
Using Black Diamond’s bylaw as a guide, Turner Valley council reviewed the regulations and made changes it felt was necessary for outdoor water use.
Outdoor water use refers to filling outdoor pools, hot tubs or similar uses; washing vehicles, driveways, sidewalks or garage floors; filling fountains, ponds or other decorative features; recreational use of sprinklers, water toys and wading pools; and washing exterior windows and buildings.
One of the changes made by council is allowing people to water their vegetable gardens at any time during all three levels, so long as they use a watering can or a hose with a nozzle trigger shutoff to restrict water flow.
“When we go into Level 3, our strictest level, I didn’t want people to have to let their vegetable gardens die,” said Holladay. “We heard of that happening after the flood. That was one of the essentials that was missed from the bylaw Black Diamond is using.”
Council also changed the underground irrigation hours to 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on watering days for Levels 1 and 2 to reduce mass usage of water during regular watering hours.
“I wanted a different time for underground irrigation,” said Holladay. “They might as well be running in the middle of the night rather than at the same time everybody else is.”
Another adjustment is allowing businesses to request an exemption for water use under Level 3 emergency water restrictions to allow them to continue operating without potentially losing revenue, said Holladay.
“Businesses can come and talk to us and be allowed to operate under Level 3,” she said. “Administration was interpreting it as we would have to shut them down. If things were extremely bad, like we had major equipment failure or an extreme drought, we don’t have to grant the exemption but obviously we want to work with businesses.”
The last time Black Diamond and Turner Valley were at Level 3 restrictions was immediately following the 2013 flood that wiped out Black Diamond’s water treatment plant and several water wells that supplied the two towns with water. The towns now share water supplied by Turner Valley’s water treatment plant through the Sheep River Regional Utility Corporation.
Level 3 restrictions prohibits all outdoor water use, but now allows for vegetable gardens to be watered by hand.
Since 2014, both towns have been under Level 2 mandatory water conservation. Level 2 allows for outdoor water use on Thursdays and Sundays for odd numbered addresses and Wednesdays and Saturdays for even numbered addresses from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. or 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Requests for site and condition-specific irrigation scheduling for commercial or industrial operations using a metered irrigation system must be approved in writing by the chief administrative officer, and requests for water conservation exemption permits for newly-seeded lawns or freshly-planted sod must be applied for at the Turner Valley municipal office.
Level 1 water conservation allows all outdoor water use for addresses ending in odd numbers on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and even numbered addresses Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at the same times as Level 2 - the only difference between the two is an additional day for watering each week.
Anyone caught breaching the Water Conservation Bylaw could face a $100 fine for the first offence, $250 for the second and $800 for the third during Level 2 or if discovered wasting water, whereas the fine for Level 3 is $250 for the first offence, $800 for the second and $1,500 for the third.
