Under Stage 2, sprinklers could operate for an hour per week — not nearly enough to save trees and shrubs, say business owners
The possible watering down of outdoor irrigation measures are a drop in the bucket of what’s needed for city irrigators and their clients, says the industry.
Successfully increasing the water flow through the Bearspaw feeder main could mean a relaxation of outdoor water use, meaning an hour a week of sprinkler use by Thursday and double that on the following Monday, city officials said Monday.
Advertisement 2
Article content
But that’s an inflexible approach that would leave them high and dry, say local irrigators serving both residential and commercial customers.
“The bylaw written 20 years ago is broken,” said Kyle Brost, president of the Canadian Prairie Chapter of the Irrigation Association (CPCIA).
“Nothing goes back to normal until we reach Stage 0.”
Under Stage 2, which the city could enact in a few days, sprinklers could operate for an hour per week — far too little for properties already parched by recent hot temperatures and facing at least another week of baking conditions, said Brost and his industry colleagues.
Recommended from Editorial
Both residential and commercial clients have the option of more hours of watering by enlisting in the city’s Water Managed Sites program, but that requires adding valves, sensors and timers that cost several thousand dollars, on top of auditing costs.
“It’s a good program but it’s very cost-prohibitive,” said Myles Sidorak, founder of Niaid Irrigation.
Noon News Roundup
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
“One hour of watering a week is not going to help anyone recover. We’re going to have dead trees and shrubs.”
His business, which serves residential customers, has had 250 irrigation jobs put on hold since the feeder water main break June 5, he said.
Some of his clients have chosen to defy the restrictions, said Sidorak.
“A lot of people have given up now; they don’t want to lose their landscaping,” he said.
Chris Gitzel agreed, saying he’s seeing increasing numbers of clients and others disregarding the city measures.
“Their grass is green, so you know they’re watering,” said Gitzel, owner of Kings Irrigation.
His company has, like others, idled workers and laid some of them off due to the lack of water, which has also cost him the business.
“It’s supposed to be our busy season,” said Gitzel.
“No one’s called us to get a new (irrigation) system — I think it’ll be a really bad year.”
Due to Calgary’s heavily clay-based soil, many more hours of water are required to be effective, said Darren Kovacs of Jetstream Irrigation.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“Surface watering for a short time is absolutely no good, it’s a waste of water,” said Kovacs.
“We’re trying to have the city get some common sense … they can easily change that but we haven’t seen any evidence yet.”
While established lawns can bounce back from the persistent hot and dry conditions, trees and shrubs aren’t nearly as resilient, he said.
“We’re starting to see plants go into distress and once they die, they won’t come back and (my clients) will be forced to replace trees, which is extremely costly,” he said.
Brost said he’s been told by city officials that changes to its water use bylaw are in the works to better reflect irrigators’ and landscapers’ realities.
But that won’t actually happen for months and won’t help them now, he said.
“Unfortunately, we’re stuck with it and the city just falls back on the bylaw,” said Brost.
City officials say they’re committed to working with irrigators and landscapers to better meet their needs.
“We know it has been a challenging situation and we know it’s led to impacts to local businesses,” Michael Thompson, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services said Monday.
“But we’re not out of the woods yet….we’ve been working with businesses to manage their water needs.”
Article content
 "BCCI want Test specialists to play domestic cricket; Rohit, Virat, Bumrah to be exceptions")
