Hamilton residents urged to cut water use 10% amid dry summer
Published July 28, 2022 at 2:18 pm
Three months of well-below-normal rainfall and prolonged dry spells has led to a call for Hamilton residents to reduce their water use by 10 per cent.
Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) passed along the encourgaement today (July 28). A Level 1 Low Water Condition has been declared for entire watershed in the area, which includes Spencer Creek, Chedoke Creek, Redhill Creek, Stoney Creek and BattlefieldCreek, Stoney Creek Numbered Watercourses, as well as all of their tributaries and other minor watercourses.
A factsheet of water use-reducing strategies has been provided by HCA.
“Reducing the use of these sources at this critical time will avoid more serious shortages in the watershed, and lessen the impact of reduced water availability on our environment,” HCA says.
Tips for saving water around the house include:
- Reducing non-essential water use, such as washing a car or watering the lawn. Gardens should also be watered in the morning or evening, rather than during the heat of the day, when water dries up more quickly.
- Using a broom to clean paved surfaces instead of water
- Installing toilet dams and repairing leaky faucets
- Using rain barrels to collect water needed around the yard
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What is a Low Water Condition?
A Low Water Condition is declared by the Hamilton Low Water Response Team which is comprised by water users including: agricultural representatives, golf courses, nursery operators, quarry operations, and industrial users as well as provincial and municipal representatives. Staff of HCA act as co‐chair for this team, and are responsible for regular evaluation of watershed conditions which provides evidence to support declaring low water conditions.
A condition is declared when precipitation amounts and/or streamflow rates fall below provincially set thresholds. Level 1 was declared since three‐month precipitation totals across eight monitoring stations were predominantly below 80 percent of long‐term averages, and 30‐day average streamflows are predominantly below the minimum average summer month flow.
Per the HCA, the three‐month precipitation totals (April 1 to June 30) were 48 to 85 per cent of long‐term averages. Six of the eight stations HCA and the response team use received fewer than 80 percent (the threshold for Level 1).
At the end of June, 30-day average streamflows also indicated Level 1 or Level 2 Low Water Conditions at three of the five available stations. Those are Upper Spencer Creek at Safari Rd.; Middle Spencer Creek at Hwy. 5, and Lower Spencer Creek at Market St..
Environment and Climate Change Canada says Hamilton received 56.1 millimetres (mm) of rain so far from July 1 to 27.
Here is how that compares with all of July during the previous five years, according to the federal climate and weather agency.
- 2021: 99.1
- 2020: 46.8
- 2019: 114.5
- 2018: 50.4
- 2017: 110.8