At their last meeting, Airdrie City Council accepted the new Water Use and Conservation Policy and the Water Conservation, Efficiency and Productivity Plan.  

Yesterday (July 7) they were helping Airdrie residents put some of the conservation plans into place by selling discount rain barrels at the Recycling Depot.  

And, if the response to those rain barrels is any indication, Airdrie is prepared to help conserve water.   The barrels actually sold out in the first couple of hours of the sale,  The city provided rain checks for everyone else who stopped by.

The city's Tracy Pagenhardt says the sale was a way to help educate residents on the conservation plan Airdrie has put in place.

"On July 3rd, Water Services brought the plan to council so this is a real effort to educate folks on water conservation, ensuring they know how to conserve water and give them different tips to water appropriately.  It's pretty much our launch for the education this summer."

Pagenhardt says conserving water is really a pretty simple thing to do and it should start with watering your lawns.  She says to only water them when they actually need it.

"An established lawn really only requires one inch of water per week, depending on weather, And water when you should be.  You want to water between 5:00 to 8:00 am and in the evening you want to water when it's cool between 7:00 and 10:00 pm.  Make sure you check your conditions.  If you have an irrigation system make sure it's watering when it should be and it's not going to be draining onto driveways and roads."

Airdrie's water comes from the City of Calgary which sources it from the Bow and Elbow Rivers.  Pagenhardt says Airdrie is one of ten municipalities that use that source of water. 

In the new conservation plan, the city has established future targets which include reducing the average per capita water use from 284 litres per day down to 275 litres per day by 2023.  If that reduction could be met and held for one year it would save Airdrie 60 million litres of water which is enough to fill the leisure and lane pool at Genesis Place over 62 times.  The plan also calls for identifying areas of water loss through a water audit in 2019.

Pagenhardt says they hope to make Airdronians aware of where their water is coming from and what we can do as individuals and families to protect it.

"It is a finite resource.  It is something that still needs to be treated respectfully and not overused.   

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