Calgary officials to appeal to the public over high water use

The City of Calgary is sharing concerns over the increasing amount of water being used by residents, as the newly repaired system is not yet fully operational.

On Tuesday, the city said while all the physical repairs are complete, crews are still struggling with stabilizing the water system and that’s hindering further progress toward lowering current restrictions.

Currently, Calgarians can’t use hoses or sprinklers or fill fountains and pools in their yards. Watering gardens with a watering can is OK, but officials say it is still too early to drop down to Stage 2 restrictions.

City-operated public outdoor pools, wading pools and spray parks have been exempted from current Stage 3 outdoor water restrictions.

On Monday, 540 million litres of water was used, up from Sunday’s 504 million litres.

While the city says the system can handle how much water is being used with indoor restrictions, it is set to resume daily updates on the water system to share its concerns with residents.

It will be the first time in about a week that officials shared a full update on the progress to restore water services.

The last formal update was on July 4 when the City of Calgary lowered its state of local emergency put in place for the water crisis.

The update is expected at 2 p.m. and it will be streamed live on CTV News Calgary.