Southern Manitoba residents asked to conserve water amid hot, dry conditions

With recent record-breaking heat, and a stretch of dry weather, residents in southern Manitoba are being asked to limit their water consumption by putting off filling their swimming pools, washing their carsor watering lawns and gardens.

The Pembina Valley Water Co-operativesent a notice to the affected communities on Tuesday. At this point, only those who draw water from the treatment plant in Letellier about 85 kilometres south of Winnipeg, and 50 kilometres east of Winkler are included in the voluntary request.

"Currently, the demand is outstripping the supply," said Jake Fehr, chief systems manager at the water co-operative.

"The hot temperatures have affected us greatly, as well as this is also the time when the [crop] sprayers are going out and it's putting a huge demand on the system," he said.

Hot temperatures like the ones seen over the last several days also increasethe demand for water for livestock.This isalso the time of year when people are planting gardens and sprucing up their lawns.

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Together, these factors have the plant operating at 10-15 per cent more than its normal capacity.

Fehr says that kind of demand can't be sustained, and the water co-op is asking the public to be mindful of its water use and put off all non-essential water consumption.

He says the problem isn't with the supply of water, which is drawn from the Red River, it's with the capacity to treat the water.

He estimates about 20,000 to 25,000 customers are included in the notice. The town of Altona, the city of Winkler, and the rural municipalities of Montcalm, Stanley, Rhineland, and Emerson-Franklin are all affected.

Fehr says the request to reduce consumption will last for the next few days and will depend on when the area gets rain.

Residents asked to alternate watering days

The city of Winkler has asked its residents to co-operate with the request by only watering their lawns and gardens every second day. Odd numbered addresses can water on odd days, even addresses on even days.

"We're not suggesting that they not water their flowers that's one bucketful at a time," saidWinklerMayorMartin Harder.

But the city is asking that "You don't put your sprinkler system on and water your lawn" on non-designated days.

Harder says the conservation request should only last another week or so, to allow farmers to draw the water needed to get their crops sprayed, and then things should return to normal.

"They're out there spraying weeds, which takes millions of gallons of water to do this, and they need to do it now. They can't do it in the middle of August," he said.

Harder says there's no risk of running out of water in the city, because most of the water in his community is supplied by an aquifer.

He says reducing consumption helps ease the burden on the water co-op thatserves 14 communities, includingWinkler.

Farmers also hoping for rain

Farmers in southern parts of the province are also hoping for a break in hot temperatures and good soaking of rain.

Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, says it's been abnormally dry in the south for this time of year, which is critical as farmers are just starting their crops.

"Two weeks ago it was a blessing in disguise because it allowed a lot of us to get our crops in, especially in southwestern Manitoba. We were extremely wet coming into the spring, we dried up nicely but now we're looking for rain," said Mazier.

"A good nice one-inch or 25-millimetrerain would be certainly welcome in a lot of different cases," he said.

Mazier said shallowly planted crops, like canola, would be affected by dry conditions, as would hay fields, which farmers use to feed their livestock.

"We haven't had those big soaker May rains to help the grasses grow," he said.