REGINA — On Wednesday, the City of Regina has put out an indefinite water conservation advisory.
Carolyn Kalim, director, water, waste & environment with the City of Regina, said this advisory was prompted by a shutdown of the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant (BPWTP).
"[The] plant experienced a brief power outage that resulted in the system being taken offline during the restart process due to a mechanical issue.”
The outage occurred on Tuesday at 9 p.m., and the cause couldn’t be provided by the city.
In the meantime, the city has turned on its emergency backup water wells, which can supply a third of its normal drinking water.
To help conserve water, the city is asking residents and businesses to:
- Refrain from watering lawns.
- Avoid washing vehicles except when required for health and safety.
- Reduce shower time.
- Only run the washing machine and dishwasher when they are full.
The city has also contacted the top 50 water users to proceed with voluntary water reduction.
As for Regina, they’re currently not watering parks with any city water. Instead, the city is only using water directly from irrigation processes.
“We're [also] not washing our vehicles unless absolutely needed for health and safety reasons, and we're not performing street sweeping, and we've suspended our water main flushing activities,” said Kalim.
If water usage remains normal, the city could be forced to enforce mandatory water restrictions.
“Mandatory would come out with very strict guidelines on what can and cannot be used,“ Kalim noted
Kalim said crews at the BPWTP are currently working on restoring their system, and the city should have an update on the situation on Thursday.
