WELLINGTON COUNTY – As the hot, dry summer weather continues water users throughout the Grand River watershed are now being asked to cut their consumption by 20 per cent.
Between mid June and mid July the watershed received approximately 25 per cent of the normal amount of precipitation for that period.
Recent rainfall has had a minimal impact on local waterways, and total rainfall amounts are well below the 90mm average expected in July.
The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is using its large upstream reservoirs to augment river flows to meet low flow targets on the Grand and Speed rivers.
The call for the reduction came from the Grand River Low Water Response Team, which held a virtual meeting on July 20.
The team is made up of representatives of major water users including municipalities, farmers, golf course operators, water bottlers, aggregate businesses and others.
The Low Water Response Team decided to place the entire watershed at Level 2 under the Ontario Low Water Response Program.
The last time a Level 2 condition was declared for the entire watershed was in 2016.
Level 2 results in a request for a voluntary 20 per cent reduction in water consumption by all water users.
For residents, the most effective thing they can do is to follow their municipal outdoor water use bylaws, which limits or restricts activities such as car washing and lawn watering.
“Conditions are incredibly dry for this time of year and while any rainfall helps, many of the weather systems we have seen this summer have been localized and fall well short of delivering the amount of precipitation needed” said Stephanie Shifflett, GRCA Water Resources Engineer.
“Reducing water use helps ensure there is adequate water supply for drinking water and wastewater treatment,” she added.
The GRCA’s large reservoirs remain within their normal operating range for this time of year, however discharges have been increased to maintain flows downstream.
Increased discharge, combined with evaporation due to persistent hot, dry weather will add further pressure to all GRCA reservoirs as water levels decrease.
The GRCA is operating these reservoirs carefully, to meet flow targets downstream while managing storage in order to augment river flows throughout the summer.
Over the past week, as of July 21, augmentation from GRCA reservoirs accounted for approximately 80 per cent of the flow in the Grand River through Kitchener, 45 per cent of the flow through Brantford and about 55 per cent of the Speed River flow through Guelph.
This augmentation helps municipalities that get some, or all of their drinking water from the Grand River including Waterloo Region, Brantford and Six Nations.
Water from these reservoirs also support the proper operation of about 30 wastewater treatment plants throughout the watershed.
As the augmentation season progresses, the conditions of the reservoirs will be closely monitored and reviewed.
More information on the Low Water Response Program is available on the GRCA website at www.grandriver.ca.
