By Greg Nikkel
Watering restrictions placed by the City of Weyburn were eased slightly on Monday night, in light of recent rain storms that provided significant amounts of moisture to replenish the city’s reservoir.
With the amendments passed by city council, residents will now be allowed to water their lawns and gardens three days a week instead of two, and Wednesdays will be still be classed as “waterless Wednesdays”.
Odd-numbered addresses will now be able to water on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, while even-numbered addresses can water on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The same time restrictions are in place, as watering has to take place before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m. on the designated days, and lawns can only be watered for an hour at a time, explained acting city manager Mathew Warren.
He noted that when the water conservation bylaw was introduced in May, the city’s reservoir, Nickle Lake, was 110 cm below full, which was a serious shortage. Since then, Nickle Lake has gained 125 cm of water, and with water consumption of 15 cm, the lake is close to full capacity.
Rainfall in Weyburn has totaled 111 mm so far in June (as of Monday), according to Environment Canada’s weather station, and May saw rainfall totaling 67.1 mm, with 37.8 mm falling on May 29 and 30 alone.
In spite of these levels of moisture, “It’s an important bylaw to keep in place,” said Warren.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw agreed, commenting, “I would just remind residents that we discovered how quickly our water supply can be depleted, so if everyone can concentrate on conserving water, that would help. Water is not free anymore, and will be getting more and more expensive as time goes on.”
He noted the city will continue to conserve water as it has been since the bylaw went into effect.
The City will be bringing online a new water well in two weeks’ time, said Mayor Marcel Roy, who encouraged commercial or industrial users of water who do not require potable water for their operations to use this source once it’s available. The coin-operated outlet will be located on Queen Street.
• In other council business, Weyburn Tourism director Twila Walkeden announced to council they are launching a new contest to encourage city residents to be tourists in their own city, to help promote the city and its events to visitors.
Using two different hash-tags, #thisisweyburn and #weyburntourism, the contest is open to residents to take in local events and take selfies or photos and put them on twitter using one or both of the hash-tags. At the end of summer, on Aug. 31, Weyburn Tourism staff will look at what has been submitted and will award prizes to those who submit the most photos.
“Weyburn Tourism’s objective is to make Weyburn a destination of choice for visitors. We all know there is economic benefits to having visitors,” said Walkeden. “How do we expect people to love our city until we love our city?”
As last year’s rating by Moneysense magazine stated, Weyburn is the best place to live on the Prairies and the fifth-best place in all of Canada, “and we need our residents to tell that story.”
Walkeden said they are borrowing a bit from Regina’s “I Love Regina” campaign, but are looking to make this one unique to Weyburn.
Weyburn Tourism promotes over 100 events a year, including the Car Show to be held on Saturday, June 16, in the downtown area, but people still hear the complaint that there isn’t anything to do in Weyburn.
“We’re hoping city council will lead the charge and attend these events, so we can have way more appreciation for this excellent city and the excellent events we have to offer,” said Walkeden, noting the car show alone brings in an average of 5-6,000 for the day into the downtown area.
“Not many people know that Weyburn Tourism even exists,” said Walkeden, although she pointed out they have an extensive social media following, and hope to capitalize on that with this contest.
Coun. Dick Michel said he just saw a Global TV report on the Charlie Wilson Silver Collection at the Soo Line Museum, touting it as the largest such collection in the world, and he wondered how many Weyburn residents know about that.
“We can be ambassadors of our city if we know what attractions we have,” said Walkeden.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw said he really liked her ideas and hoped the contest will help bring out more residents to the events in the community.
“When there’s something to celebrate, our community will come out,” said Walkeden, noting that Weyburn Tourism is available to help promote any community events that are coming up this year.
