City of Calgary Wants Residents to “Skip Two Flushes” Amid Water Restrictions

City of Calgary officials continue to encourage residents to conserve more water amid restrictions as this would help the city save more water.

“We are saving 100 million litres of water every day, which is over 80 per cent of the way to our goal. If everyone in Calgary skipped two extra toilet flushes, we could close the gap of 15 million litres and meet our goal”, according to the City of Calgary website.

On Thursday, Calgarians used 502 million litres of water, slight rise from the 500 million that was used on Wednesday. Officials associate this to the increase in temperature.

According to the city’s website, officials have been in discussion with the city’s large commercial customers about opportunities to decrease their reliance on City water. This has resulted in securing a “commitment to reduce consumption by an additional 3 million litres a day.”

However, hot-tubs and steam rooms have been closed at the city recreation facilities. The city says it is now introducing additional water saving measures. “Starting Sept. 7, showers at City-operated arenas, athletic parks and the Calgary Soccer Centre will be turned off.”

“City arenas will switch to non-potable water for flooding ice surfaces, saving approximately 170,000 litres of water daily. Finally, the ice at Murray Copot Arena will be installed using entirely non-City water.”

Although these steps will help the city reach its “water reduction target”, it is still imperative that residents continue to save water. With the hot weather forecast, officials urge Calgarians to use non-potable water sources like rain barrels, grey water and river water to tend to their gardens and flowers.

These can be picked up from one of the three pick up stations from 9am to 7pm daily. The stations are located at Ogden Boat Launch, 3303 Bow River Pathway, just south of Inglewood Golf Club (not at the Graves Bridge boat Launch).

West Baker Park Boat Launch 4320 Bow River Pathway and Bankside Day Use Area – Fish Creek Provincial Park, 153 Avenue S.E.

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