The Municipal District of Pincher Creek has eased extreme water restrictions that had been in place for nearly a year for residents and businesses.
Under the Stage 1 restrictions still in place as of Friday morning, residents, businesses and institutions were being asked to conserve water, in line with Alberta government guidance to small water-holders to reduce use by five to 10 per cent.
“I think our residents are happy to see where we’re at right now,” David Desabrais, utilities and infrastructure manager for the rural municipality, said Friday.
Municipal officials are now assessing whether they will further ease the restrictions.
The restrictions have affected all users on the MD’s system, which provides water to the hamlets of Lundbreck and Beaver Mines and the village of Cowley, as well as Castle Mountain Resort and users along the transmission line.
“We’re definitely going to be keeping a close eye on the levels of the Oldman Reservoir,” said Desabrais.
As of Friday morning, water volume in the Oldman Reservoir was 95 per cent of capacity. According to the province, the normal level at this time of year is between 95 and 99 per cent.
“It’s slowly still rising,” said Desabrais. “At this time of year, typically the reservoir level would already be dropping, but it appears that there’s been a lower-than-normal irrigation drop — I would assume due to users reducing their consumption, but we’ve also been helped out by the weather quite a bit.”
The amount of water in the Oldman Reservoir is much better than expected for early summer, said Desabrais.
“It’s a lot less concerning than even where we were last year at this time.”
In August last year, the rural municipality started hauling water downstream of the Oldman Reservoir, but stopped doing so on May 11. Last year, the MD spent just under $1 million to haul water due to low levels in the reservoir.
The district was recently awarded two grants from the province for water projects. A $1.7-million grant went toward its two more drought-resilient intakes — the other new intake is expected to be completed in late summer or fall — and a $3.4-million grant is for a raw water storage project.
“We would pump from the Oldman Reservoir into a large volume storage, but in terms of volume it’s nothing compared to the Oldman Reservoir,” said Desabrais.
Before taking on the raw water storage project, the municipality has applied for another provincial grant to have a study done to assess future drought projects. The district’s council has yet to approve a capital budget to work on the project, which would likely be placed near the municipality’s water treatment plant north of Cowley.