Nearly four days of shutting off the taps was enough of a break for the city's reservoirs to warrant lifting the watering ban.
The restriction on mechanical sprinklers and unattended hoses imposed Tuesday morning was eased Friday at 5 p.m. after city staff determined there was no longer a concern about having water available for firefighting.
"What we were looking for was a number of days where we saw the the water consumption go back down to our average numbers," said associate public works director Gina Layte Liston.
For example, 62 million litres of water was pumped from one city well on Monday night before the ban was implemented. On Thursday night, 29 million litres was pumped from that same well – a 47 per cent decrease.
"That 29 million litres, which still sounds like a lot from one well, would be our usual average in the summer time," Layte Liston said.
During the ban, the city also shut off fountains and water parks as well as stopped watering grass, though staff still tended to gardens.
The usual water restrictions will be in place with the ban removed, meaning homeowners can water their grass on odd- or even-numbered day, depending on their street number. There's no sprinkling allowed between noon and 5 p.m. daily.
Keeping to those year-round rules as well as using moderation when watering (lawns typically don't need more than a tuna can-full of water to be properly hydrated) can help prevent another ban.
"If we're seeing those consumption numbers go up into your 45 or 50 million-litre range, there's a definite indicator that we would be going back to a ban," Layte Liston said.
Two additional reservoirs get brought online during the summer to deal with the extra use, Layte Liston said, but noted this week's ban revealed that perhaps there needs to be a larger focus on water conservation and education in the community about where the city's water comes from - not directly from the river, but an aquifer beneath.
"Our infrastructure is built for populations even larger than what we have and yet we were at max capacity with those (pumps) and that's where the concern comes from," she said. "Our aquifer was maintaining its normal levels, so there was no additional draw down on that, but it was about our pumps and our reservoirs that are built for these types of populations or greater."
Increasing the pump infrastructure to meet the demand as opposed to doing replacements due to wear and age is not an option, said Layte Liston.
"We're not wanting to add capacity when we should more than easily be able to sustain the water consumption from our system," she said. "When you start adding more pumps and you start adding more pipes and bigger pipes, those costs are very real. Whereas if people just followed a normal water restriction, just by not turning their water on every day, that could save the city millions."
Layte Liston said she doesn't think anyone was issued a $50 ticket for violating the ban since the focus was more on informing and educating people caught watering.
"But that will not be how it goes in the future," she said, in the event of another restriction. "So those people who are not complying for the second time, there is a much greater chance that they will be receiving a ticket."
An open fire ban (including campfires of any size) is still in effect, having been ordered by the city's fire chief last Friday.
