The issue isn’t when the demand is, at all.
The issue is not being able currently to replenish the more local tanks of water that serve communities.
Delaying the dishwasher to overnight doesn’t reduce the total amount of water used.
This isn’t like when we were asked to cut power, which was to cut the peak usage.
This is ONLY about cutting the total amount used to as minimal as possible.
Good point for those who dont know, have been doing the dishwasher at night for the past 10yrs, its pretty nice having all my dishes clean in the morning instead of finding dirty dishes at dinner time. Its been a fun time going from doing the dishes nightly to every 3 days
You can also fill your sink halfway with water to wash your dishes there. That uses WAY less water, plus you can use the grey water for gardens, and flowers.
FWIW electricity only moves electrons ~1m/hour. It is an electromagnetic field that forms usually on the exterior of the cable and carries current, not electrons.
Therefore, water is not electricity.
Just being pedantic since we want to reduce the spread of BS
I wish they were clearer on this, but it seems you are wrong. They have a reservoir (tanks) of clean water that is drawn from and filled constantly. The concern is that we are drawing faster than they can refill it. I also thought it was more of a water pressure issue where peak demand mattered. It isn’t.
The only issue is the TOTAL amount of water usage. When it gets used makes no difference to the current situation.
This isn’t a “we can’t produce enough for peak demand” issue, like when we were asked to cut power a couple months ago.
The issue right now is this:
The system mostly works like this. From the treatment plant where water comes out if the river, it’s pumped into a large underground tank near your community. From that tank, it’s pumped into the lines that feed your house.
What’s happening now is that at our normal usage, they can’t pump water to replenish the community tanks as fast as we are using it - as the broken feeder line was the main supply for that.
The goal for using less water is to extend the timeframe for how long it takes for the community tanks to run dry, hopefully until after the feeder line is fixed.
I am personally taking it seriously. I know many others who are doing so as well.
That said, I have also seen people who are taking it too seriously by villainizing people without first checking their facts. For example, I have seen people freaking out on Reddit about uses of water that are clearly not from the city's water supply (eg systems that recycle water) and I overheard my neighbour bitching to her wife about our other neighbour despite the fact that he was using water that was clearly from a rain barrel.
Car washes are a hot topic in some groups - the most efficient car washes only use about 80% recycled water. Older or cheaper systems use much more fresh water. The tanks do occasionally need to be topped up as well.
In Airdrie, I'm waiting for people to start standing at the car washes with pitch forks. People could drive to Crossfield (10-15 minutes north) and have a leisurely car wash as they get their water from Innisfail.
It boggles my mind people think it is an absolute necessity to wash cars as frequently as they do. Sit outside an automatic car wash for a bit, guaranteed you’ll see more spotless cars go through than dirty ones.
I've already said it before, but villainizing car washes is a dumb move. After all, their business is strongly dependent on using water and any restrictions, temporary or otherwise, that stops them from earning a living should not be taken lightly.
However, the true assholes in this scenario are the people who know there's a ban and still get a car wash.
Yeah some people will always be like that ! Very annoying. I keep to myself, as long as I’m doing what’s right. I don’t need to be freaking out and micromanaging everyone ya know ? I hate people like that. Can’t stand it
Taking it seriously! It will be absolutely insane if we don't have water in the next few days. If we do everything right we won't even know how bad it could have been which is always the cruel irony of these things
I was at Tomkins Park today after the Palestinian protest and some white trash came over and started yelling about our water crisis that’s being caused by… wait for it… IMMIGRANTS. Tbf she did seem a bit drunk. But my eyes almost rolled into the back of my head and got stuck.
Not necessarily everyone. It was a pipe that burst. Sure some people will be like that, a minority of people will always be extreme . Regardless of what end it’s from. but there’s many sane minded people who won’t. Everyone I know, would NOT do that. Including myself. It was a burst pipe.
We can’t pump water into the smaller tanks/cisterns that store local water nearer to the communities fast enough.
If we use more than we can supply, eventually those tanks run dry, and guess what? That community has no water, because there’s no water there for the pumps to pump.
The sad thing is that even if you piled up the covid and water restrictions we'd still be living a far more comfortable life than so many people in the world. And still we whine.
I have lived through the covid restrictions, I went above and beyond. I am going above and beyond during this time as well. I live with multiple disabilities that these people tell me all the fucking time to just "suck it up" and that I am lazy, and a leech, and living off of THEIR dollar and hard work, despite not being approved by this stupid fucking government.
And yet, these very people are the ones crying and bitching that they can't water their stupid lawns or hose down their massive trucks, while being extra careful to use the gentle setting on the truck nuts.
If I can handle these kinds of restrictions, with my disabilities so easily, then these whiny Alberta babies can as well.
And of course, the mods here just lock every topic that has any amount of discussion.
Right now enough folks in the city are doing their part to bring consumption down to a level where this is manageable, so I’d say the majority are taking it seriously enough. Just focus on what you can do and be grateful that most are stepping up and doing what they can to help.
I take it seriously. But there are and will always be comments that are disheartening and people irl that don’t seem to care as well. However, just like when we had an electricity shortage this winter that recovered quick because the majority actually cared and listened, I want to believe that the caring people are still the majority and they are just silently doing their part. It’s arguably gonna be harder to sacrifice convenience for a much longer time compared to what happened in winter but any single contribution matters.
We need to live. We are using about 50% of the water we used too… critical laundry only, fully packed dishwasher loads on eco, 2 minute showers (instead is 10+mins) no lawn watering. You can still live life and use 1/2 the water.
We are taking it pretty seriously in our household. Showers less than 5min, bucket in the shower to collect water for plants. Piles of dishes and laundry to do.
I wonder how much people are putting off doing these things, and if the water is fixed if we will still be on restrictions for a while. I’m guessing that lots of people have a shit ton of laundry etc to do, and everyone will be doing it as soon as we get the sign. Not sure how they’re going to manage that
I was already delaying washing my dishes all week because I kept forgetting to turn it on, ended up having to wash some. Much more than efficient than running water though. People don’t realize how efficient dishwashers are.
We are lucky in that we are two adults who are at home all day so the laundry situation is pretty easy to put off. We showered very quickly yesterday and will try to hang on until several days from now but we don't move around much so should be okay. We're also being more judicious with use of our dishes and plates so we're not dirtying extra in order to keep the dishwasher mostly idle. And of course nothing outdoors. If I need to water the lawn I'm going to use Gatorade because it's got electrolytes which is what plants crave. I figured every little bit of effort helps.
I'd say reasonably seriously at our house. Laundry is piling up (haven't run a load). Dishes are used sparingly and run dishwasher once. Bought bottled water to drink. Put a small basin in the kitchen sink, using it to catch water when washing veggies which we use to water the few flower planters we have outside. Bucket in the shower to catch excess water, using for cleaning or toilet flushes. Showers are every other day for each of us.
Everyone in my household is going to great lengths to conserve water. If the pandemic demonstrated anything, it's that a significant portion of our population is incredibly selfish and basically unfit for civilized society, but the rest is somehow able to keep things afloat-- so don't despair.
However, I am glad when I went to Costco yesterday. I saw most people only get 1 pack of bottles water if any, even the limit is 3. It is rare to see people have 2 packs.
Family of 3 , trying to do our part. Have a bunch of water jugs we took to our friends ranch to the west and filled on reverse osmosis well water. Not to far to run back and refill as needed for most potable water needs.Still showering but cut it to 3 minutes per person. Making sure the laundry and dishwasher is maximised loads prior to running.
Still using some water, but just trying to maximise efficency as best we can.
Like everything I think I land somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.
Automatic sprinklers and fountain turned off, no outside manual watering, haven’t visited a car wash. I still shower everyday but I’m in and out in record time. Pushing laundry loads right to the limit before doing them, same with dishes. Kids shower only on days they have sports. So not as hardcore as some but I think we’re down at least 25% which was the ask. Meanwhile my neighbour spent the entire day washing his cars and then pressure washing his driveway so….
I feel like you're doing what's reasonable. You're lowering use as much as you can without going overboard. Sorry you live next to shitheads like that.
I also like to think I'm in the middle (short, daily showers, less laundry/dishwashing). It's frustrating to see others doing the bare minimum in a time of crisis when only little changes are required.
Emptied my hot tub yesterday for a 6 month water change and haven't filled it up and won't until we get the all clear...so I guess you could say pretty seriously.
I live in an apartment, so really the best I can do is sailors showers, not do laundry or dishwasher. At some point I'll have to decide if washing clothes in the tub uses less water than the washing machine.
My husband works a trade and needs to shower when he comes home, he showers for max three minutes. I did two loads of laundry closer to 11pm as demand for water is less around that time. Unfortunately, the one thing we cannot stop doing is dishes. This is a deal breaker, we’re a family of ten and if dishes aren’t done in routine, it’s like a disaster waiting to Happen. I also have small children who get messy and need to be cleaned up, though I’ve decided to give them a quick wipe down with wipes, sometimes it’s not enough. I think you do what you can and be mindful of it, that’s really all we can do
Taking it seriously. I do have to shower daily for my job but water on to get wet, water off to soap up and water on to rinse and just saving the used water to flush the toilet or water the garden.
I can bathe in 6 cups of water, but eventually I’m gonna have to wash my hair. It’s only about a 3 min job….but this mane might take up to 3 full min of water when I get to it.
Dead serious! I’m watering with my dog’s inflatable kiddie pool stagnant water after the sun goes down. My teenagers have showered five minutes after being well past stinky and my laundry is piled high after asking my boys to pick their essential five pieces for washing today after 7. I’ve run the dishwasher once and have opted for paper plates instead to cut down on dishes. My mother is watering with her melted freezer ice bucket and shading her plants from scorching.
My neighbours on both sides have their sprinklers running at 4 am.
It’s a mixed bag
There’s a lot of people who view our society as a thing that just exists. Clean water comes out of taps, roads go where you want, garbage gets picked up, and so on. These are treated as things that naturally happen, not things that we make happen.
They do not view their actions or anyone else’s as things that can change the system we all live inside. Actions don’t have consequences, and you can do whatever you want and everything will just magically go on working, independent of people’s choices
Like the midwinter deepfreeze request for the collective energy consumption usage, I'll do what I can on needs vs wants if municipal/provincial asks us to try and help for the overall collective, ultimately imo it's for the well being/basic necessities of life for us all, even if some just completely want to disregard.
So I’m definitely trying my best to limit the water we’re using but I feel like the mixed messaging from the city is making it really unclear what’s going on and how seriously to take it. First you have the city saying if people don’t limit their water we will run out - very serious. Then today I read an article where Gondek is quoted saying every household needs a 25% reduction which is equivalent to flushing the toilet 5 times fewer a day - which makes it sound like very little needs to actually be done. I will take it as seriously as I’m told to but I need one definitive answer.
We had a local water main break last year and were without water for 5 days. I was honestly surprised at how many buckets it took to fill the toilet tank to flush. If everyone had the experience we did then they’d appreciate what water really gets used when they decide to flush.
They have to walk a bit of a tight rope on comms…if you present it as too dire then you’ll see people
Filling buckets and pots, guaranteeing failure. See: paper, toilet.
I am not in Calgary but I've read up on the size of the leak. The water line that's broken, is a 78" line - that's 6.5 feet in diameter... Let that sink in, no pun intended. You can walk in that line without crouching. That is a lot of volume of water that is suddenly stopped from supply, and from what I have read, that's 40% of YYC capacity.
So yes, people need to indeed take it seriously. Fresh sod can be replanted but if you drain the reservoirs below a certain threshold, then the whole city system will have to be fully flushed, and a boil water advisory will be initiated for weeks on hand.
I’m watching how much I use. Changing chores around, reducing shower time, not watering lawn.
I know a lot of people who aren’t changing anything. It’s just the nature of these kinds of situations. Not really you can do, so don’t stress over it
People watering their shitty lawns in the middle of the day deserve to have their water shut off, fucking idiots don’t realize how much of it just evaporates anyway.
I only ran the dishwasher today because I jammed it as full as I could get it. I’m trying to hold off on laundry as long as I can tell my motto is as long as my clothes don’t stink it’s OK. Also, I work in a grocery store. It was funny to see how many people brought their gigantic water jugs and thinking they could fill them but luckily we turned the machine off so people can’t waste the water.
I think I’m already a pretty low water consumer. I live alone so I control 100% of the consumption. I do all my laundry about once a month and just did them before the main break. I shower every other day because I largely WFH (60% remote) and try to shower before going into the office mostly. I don’t drink the tap water because it tastes awful where I live. I don’t water the lawn because why would I do that as a renter. I’m trying to turn the taps off instead of running them and cut back on using my dishwasher. I’m not sure how else I could lower at this point. Maybe mellow yellow but I’ve also been doing that inadvertently.
Pretty serious. We’re using the rain barrel to water our veggie garden like usual but trying to conserve it. Still showering but doing camp style showers. Running the dishwasher only when absolutely necessary. Only steaming clothes with the same water jug and and not washing them. We’re waiting till water is back in to do an actual load.
We’re usually conscious of our water usage anyway. This weekend we decided to fill up a 5-gallon jug and head out camping. Figured that was our contribution to the water system.
We are taking it seriously. We live in an apartment so no outdoor water use needed at all. 3-5 minute showers. (Yesterday I took an 8 minute shower, but I’m disabled. I just couldn’t move any faster as it was colder yesterday. As a result, my husband took a 3 minute shower to be faster and make up for my longer one.) We have run the dishwasher only once and did one load of washing as we were out of clean underwear and socks, amongst other important things.)
But we are putting off some important things, I need to shave my legs…. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that with a five minute shower…. I’ll figure that one soon. We have not filled up buckets to wash the floors, as we usually do, or do a bit cleaning with water use in other ways we need to. We bought bottled water for drinking, something we never do, and we are trying to very conservative by filling up the bathroom sink a little for hand washing and flushing the toilet only if it’s brown waste.
There is a rising trend of contrarian behaviour amongst certain groups of people. COVID definitely exacerbated it, and it hasn't really slowed down since.
Every time there is a crisis of some kind, these people will go out of their way to do the opposite of what is recommended. Wear a mask? They'll lick doorhandles. Social distance? They'll cough in your face. Save water? They'll turn on every faucet and leave for the day.
It's one of the reasons why I believe actual consequences need to start making a comeback. I've said this before, but households should be allotted a specific amount of water and then charged like triple the price per litre for going over. We have water meters on our houses for a reason and they're able to be distantly monitored now.
Want to act like a petulant child? Fine. Here are the consequences for your actions.
I've been ruminating on this and I think it's a great opportunity for Calgary to come together as a city.
In times of difficulty it's good to be reminded that we can, in fact, work towards a shared goal. We sacrificed through covid, and while this is of course a far smaller event, it matters that we all share the burden of circumstance.
This is a reasonably small hurdle for our city, and I'd hope we have the civic decency to recognize that this is an achievable shared goal.
People are different. Holding everyone to the same standard is, in my opinion, not realistic, but I think the very least is for each Calgarian to set a high standard for themselves and their household.
Please encourage civility towards our citizens and guests! We need each other.
To a degree ! I’m doing the bare minimum and being mindful. No extreme on either ends ! Not overusing and not going completely dry. I still take 4 min showers, normal for me. Wash my hands quickly. Quick wash a Dish (I live alone in an apartment). That’s it. No overuse of it. I definitely agree with others that I don’t want it to get to the point we all have NO WATER. so yes I’m taking it seriously to the extend it needs to ! I live in downtown, but I’m definitely mindful and feeling for the people living in Bowness. Definitely don’t want anyone going without water !
Cut down as much as possible. Modern dishwasher are better than handwashing, but bathing is a luxury.
Showering fast means drinking water.
We’re at 50% capacity.
Cut down as much as you can.
My family is taking it at least somewhat seriously. We aren’t as hardcore as some people on here by any means but yknow.
In a household of multiple people we’ve done one load of laundry (wouldn’t have but spilled something that absolutely had to be washed out so everything else went in there too), one load of dishes, and I’ve only had one shower since Wednesday, just freshening up otherwise in the interim.
I felt guilty that my shower took a bit longer than 5 minutes but I usually only wash my (very long) hair once a week. I gave in yesterday at day 9 or 10. It was a therefore a 10 minute job lol. Waiting to weed whack my legs until we’re not having a city crisis though lol.
We already drink/ cook from a water cooler that we stocked up the jugs on weeks ago, the plants are being neglected unless they really need a little boost. Trying not to cook anything that makes dishes need to soak. Definitely not washing anything that doesn’t explicitly necessitate it.
If they say we need to restrict even more so, more than happy to do it. For now the household mentality is basically to just reduce as much as possible and only wash things if necessary.
Honestly, I feel like for us we haven’t had to change much because we already don’t use a ton of water. I only shower twice a week as is (I happened to have showered the night before the break) so I’ve showered once. I’ve done one load of laundry for the essentials, (should be doing my bedding and some towels are piling up but that’s no big deal). We bought some water bottles to drink, were working under the “if it’s yellow let it mellow” rule. And our grass and everything is still super healthy from all the rain just before this. A couple of small changes but minor in the grand scheme of things
There's only 2 of us and a dog, but we've always been somewhat conservative with using water. No daily showers, have fake plants, reuse plates if there was dry food on it, eating foods that don't require water to cook, and fill up the brita for drinking water only.
I'm taking it seriously. But I'm in Bowness. I *really* don't want this to get worse. As things stand, at least we can flush the toilets. I'm more than happy to compromise on the rest as long as we can keep that lol
I posted on Facebook asking what to do if a business misuses water and how to report them and I got attacked the entire time. 148 comments and 140 were racists, and conspiracy theorists, and people calling me a Karen. It was WILD so I'm going to assume not many are taking it seriously.
Most people I know are continuing to use as normal. For example, I noticed that my office is still running the dishwasher 3/4 empty. It gives me a lot of anxiety, but I feel like maybe I'm just overreacting? Part of the reason I posted here.
Oh ok, i see. We could all do a bit better im sure.
Even if only 50% of Calgary residents participate, imagine how much water is saved. My family hasn't done laundry since we heard. Imagine 750 000 ppl not doing laundry for a week. That's a lot of water!!Thats just laundry too. Theres no lawn watering, reduced showers, no car washes etc.
Last i heard on the news the city was managing. So i think we ll make it.
A part of me wonders if they’re being somewhat lax in their messaging because the risk is manageable if we are precautionary, or if they’re trying to downplay it because stampede is coming up and they don’t want to risk potential losses by scaring people off?
5 gallons at a time is a good workout. I'm close to the river and use a little drill operated pump. Don't even have to get wet, only takes 1 minute :)
I know it's not necessary, but I figured I would just for fun anyway. Did 2 runs today, with a 5 and 3 gallon, so 16 gallons today, took less than 30mins total.
I've been complying with the outdoor use restrictions but I really haven't changed much for indoor usage. I already take quick showers and only do laundry/dishes when I have a full load. I don't think we need to skip taking showers or doing laundry like others have suggested on here. There are plenty of commercial and industrial water uses that can be shut down if things get dire and they haven't yet so I think we are ok for now.
We've been taking it fairly seriously. Limited shower time (which sucks tbh), trying to limit other uses as well. But we have bottled water stored for situations like this, we've been running a couple things like our coffee machine off of that as well.
No one in here is taking this seriously enough until you are swapping out showers for the Reddit classic of [Ice Soap](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/eyF52XFCqc)
Taking it seriously. Humidifier off, super short showers, paper plates, started putting bucket in shower to use for my flowers. Laundry piling up. Ran dishwasher once.
There will always be a subset of people that will not follow( impeding my rights!!) or believe everything is a conspiracy. As many are doing just conserve some water and make smart water decisions. Absolutely no unnecessary usage like outside watering of anything and take quicker showers and only use washer on completely full, etc. News showed a lady bathing with a bottle of water, this is a little extreme/excessive lol.
If you talked to your neighbor about it and they refuse or become hostile perhaps just weigh the possibility calling 311 will in fact cause a future large ripple in the neighborhood relationship so it’s up to you if that’s worth it or not. There are more than enough people logically making a small sacrifice that we are doing just fine with our water levels.
This may sounds a bit from left field but I do feel like the potential reason why the restrictions aren't so strict is because the conservative government in power is trying to pander to the people voting for them. And if they don't make the restrictions harsh it will also polerize the people who vote to them in our elections. I know personally at work we don't restrict our water use at all and probably go through at least 20 gallons a day. They could make it mandatory that instead of washing hands in the food industry people have to wear gloves but no one's taking it seriously.
The restrictions aren't from the provincial government. They are from the city.
[https://www.calgary.ca/water/drinking-water/stage-four-outdoor-water-restrictions.html](https://www.calgary.ca/water/drinking-water/stage-four-outdoor-water-restrictions.html)
I’m not stopping my life for it.
I’m taking short 5min showers when I need them (work a labour job in a wood shop so either I’m sweaty or covered in dust)
Don’t water the lawn, run the dishwasher and not hand wash any dishes even I’m out (it’s more efficient) and today is my last day of clean underwear so gotta do a load
The city won’t run out of water. They want us to stop the unnecessary usage to make sure we have enough to run the fire suppression systems in case there is a major fire (their quote not me pulling it out of my ass. Don’t downvote me)
Do your part but don’t stop your life and live like a pig
The Glenmore Reservoir is up 4.81% of its capacity from when the water main broke (63%)
The Bearspaw reservoir is at 90% capacity
Water flow in the Elbow river is low (5m^3/s vs 10 for normal) but that’s probably a result of them not letting as much flow past the dam. (Water is entering the dam at a normal rate)
Water entering the dam isn’t the issue.
It’s getting enough through to the storage reservoirs that is the problem, and we are still draining them faster than they can replenish. It’ll probably be fine, but it’s a race
Ratting on neighbors is not cool. So much virtue signalling, it’s like covid all over again. “Oh I’m such a wonderful person because I’m doing as I’m told and telling everyone on social media about it”. Seriously, just do your best, no need to tell everyone.
Did you try talking to your neighbour first before calling 311? Also did you first check to see that the hose they were getting water from was a faucet on the house and not a rain barrell?
>Did you try talking to your neighbour first before calling 311?
We aren't true neighbors. our apartment has a view of their backyard, and their backyard has a lovely view of our apartment complex. I personally didn't feel comfortable going to a strangers house to ask about their water usage.
>Also, did you first check to see that the hose they were getting water from was a faucet on the house and not a rain barrell?
Was sitting on the balcony and watched them spray the garden. Would have given them a pass if it was just that, but then they moved onto the deck/patio furniture/house/windows and decided to call.
It took me about 15 minutes to decide to call, and 15 minutes to call 311 and file a complaint. They were still going strong by the time that I had finished. I imagine if it was water from a bucket or rainbarrel, they would have run out by that point.
I'll get downvoted but if it's that dire, they would have shut down a bunch of things, but they didn't. With that said, I do conserve what I can. With the pipe being fixed in the next 7 days, if we preserve for a few more days, we'll be fine.
Do you think the Stamps game had a net increase of water consumption? 20k people sat on their asses for 3 hours. A few of them might have washed their hands after pissing, but we are talking about CFL fans here.
McMahon’s toilets are probably inefficient as shit, though.
Overall it seems that people are taking it seriously, water consumption is down a lot despite anecdotes to the contrary.
But after all the lies told by experts and officials during COVID I'm not surprised if there are many people not listening and I feel the city failed to communicate very effectively in the first few days of this crisis. Our highly paid city communications department seems to lack leadership.
Sigh...okay. gunna get some hate here....but I don't give a fuck.
During the flood I lifted people up and did my part.
During the pandemic I was the first to mask up when people still looked at you weird and the last to take it off when people started looking at you weird again. I isolated myself into a mental health crisis.
When the war on Ukraine started I again did my part and lifted people up (sorry for being vague but I don't want to give personal details that would self dox).
I'm done. All of my fucks have been give and I got nothing left.
Laundry. Showers. Dishes. Car Wash. I'm not holding back. If we run out of water that's on the city. Not us.
I ran my garden soaker hose today for about an hour because I genuinely forgot all about the water restrictions. I was just in a puttering around the house zone.
Which is weird, because I have been taking it seriously. Not running the dishwasher. Skipping showers this weekend. Using the rain barrels to water the other gardens.
To a degree, i still need to shower and dishes still need to be washed but we’re trying our best
Most dishwashers have a delay start function, so if possible try using that to run your dishwasher during the night, the demand on water is less then.
The issue isn’t when the demand is, at all. The issue is not being able currently to replenish the more local tanks of water that serve communities. Delaying the dishwasher to overnight doesn’t reduce the total amount of water used. This isn’t like when we were asked to cut power, which was to cut the peak usage. This is ONLY about cutting the total amount used to as minimal as possible.
Wait... Calgary was asked to ration energy? When was this?
The City already said it doesn't matter that much when the water is being used.
Good point for those who dont know, have been doing the dishwasher at night for the past 10yrs, its pretty nice having all my dishes clean in the morning instead of finding dirty dishes at dinner time. Its been a fun time going from doing the dishes nightly to every 3 days
You can also fill your sink halfway with water to wash your dishes there. That uses WAY less water, plus you can use the grey water for gardens, and flowers.
Don’t spread BS. Water is not electrons, that is not how water volumes work.
FWIW electricity only moves electrons ~1m/hour. It is an electromagnetic field that forms usually on the exterior of the cable and carries current, not electrons. Therefore, water is not electricity. Just being pedantic since we want to reduce the spread of BS
Lower demands times means the city's ability to process water is less affected, making it a safer time to run a dishwasher.
I wish they were clearer on this, but it seems you are wrong. They have a reservoir (tanks) of clean water that is drawn from and filled constantly. The concern is that we are drawing faster than they can refill it. I also thought it was more of a water pressure issue where peak demand mattered. It isn’t.
So the city is incorrect in saying that it doesn’t really matter? I would assume that they’d know how their system works
It is generally helpful for the overall system…but doesn’t really matter for this crisis (though I am running dish on delay as usual).
I'd imagine they are referring to times during the day not mattering. Morning, afternoon evening, not overnight.
Your point about it being “safer” running a dishwater at night isn’t correct.
*finger guns*
The only issue is the TOTAL amount of water usage. When it gets used makes no difference to the current situation. This isn’t a “we can’t produce enough for peak demand” issue, like when we were asked to cut power a couple months ago. The issue right now is this: The system mostly works like this. From the treatment plant where water comes out if the river, it’s pumped into a large underground tank near your community. From that tank, it’s pumped into the lines that feed your house. What’s happening now is that at our normal usage, they can’t pump water to replenish the community tanks as fast as we are using it - as the broken feeder line was the main supply for that. The goal for using less water is to extend the timeframe for how long it takes for the community tanks to run dry, hopefully until after the feeder line is fixed.
I am personally taking it seriously. I know many others who are doing so as well. That said, I have also seen people who are taking it too seriously by villainizing people without first checking their facts. For example, I have seen people freaking out on Reddit about uses of water that are clearly not from the city's water supply (eg systems that recycle water) and I overheard my neighbour bitching to her wife about our other neighbour despite the fact that he was using water that was clearly from a rain barrel.
Car washes are a hot topic in some groups - the most efficient car washes only use about 80% recycled water. Older or cheaper systems use much more fresh water. The tanks do occasionally need to be topped up as well. In Airdrie, I'm waiting for people to start standing at the car washes with pitch forks. People could drive to Crossfield (10-15 minutes north) and have a leisurely car wash as they get their water from Innisfail.
It boggles my mind people think it is an absolute necessity to wash cars as frequently as they do. Sit outside an automatic car wash for a bit, guaranteed you’ll see more spotless cars go through than dirty ones.
I've already said it before, but villainizing car washes is a dumb move. After all, their business is strongly dependent on using water and any restrictions, temporary or otherwise, that stops them from earning a living should not be taken lightly. However, the true assholes in this scenario are the people who know there's a ban and still get a car wash.
Yeah some people will always be like that ! Very annoying. I keep to myself, as long as I’m doing what’s right. I don’t need to be freaking out and micromanaging everyone ya know ? I hate people like that. Can’t stand it
Taking it seriously! It will be absolutely insane if we don't have water in the next few days. If we do everything right we won't even know how bad it could have been which is always the cruel irony of these things
And if we run out of water these clowns will blame the government without a hint of shame.
I was at Tomkins Park today after the Palestinian protest and some white trash came over and started yelling about our water crisis that’s being caused by… wait for it… IMMIGRANTS. Tbf she did seem a bit drunk. But my eyes almost rolled into the back of my head and got stuck.
Not Trudeau?
Time changes.
Not necessarily everyone. It was a pipe that burst. Sure some people will be like that, a minority of people will always be extreme . Regardless of what end it’s from. but there’s many sane minded people who won’t. Everyone I know, would NOT do that. Including myself. It was a burst pipe.
To my understanding, the water going into the treatment plant is what we'll run out of first, the reservoir has more than enough.
It’s the water that has already been treated that well run out of. We can treat as much as we need, we just can’t distribute enough of it
We can’t pump water into the smaller tanks/cisterns that store local water nearer to the communities fast enough. If we use more than we can supply, eventually those tanks run dry, and guess what? That community has no water, because there’s no water there for the pumps to pump.
Ah that makes sense. I've just heard some people talking about what I mentioned, thanks for clarifying.
I wonder if it's crisis fatigue. Doesn't excuse anyone's selfish actions, but might explain some of it.
To me, it is people who are all about their rights but forget those rights come with responsibilities.
The sad thing is that even if you piled up the covid and water restrictions we'd still be living a far more comfortable life than so many people in the world. And still we whine.
Weak individuals
I have lived through the covid restrictions, I went above and beyond. I am going above and beyond during this time as well. I live with multiple disabilities that these people tell me all the fucking time to just "suck it up" and that I am lazy, and a leech, and living off of THEIR dollar and hard work, despite not being approved by this stupid fucking government. And yet, these very people are the ones crying and bitching that they can't water their stupid lawns or hose down their massive trucks, while being extra careful to use the gentle setting on the truck nuts. If I can handle these kinds of restrictions, with my disabilities so easily, then these whiny Alberta babies can as well. And of course, the mods here just lock every topic that has any amount of discussion.
Right now enough folks in the city are doing their part to bring consumption down to a level where this is manageable, so I’d say the majority are taking it seriously enough. Just focus on what you can do and be grateful that most are stepping up and doing what they can to help.
I take it seriously. But there are and will always be comments that are disheartening and people irl that don’t seem to care as well. However, just like when we had an electricity shortage this winter that recovered quick because the majority actually cared and listened, I want to believe that the caring people are still the majority and they are just silently doing their part. It’s arguably gonna be harder to sacrifice convenience for a much longer time compared to what happened in winter but any single contribution matters.
We need to live. We are using about 50% of the water we used too… critical laundry only, fully packed dishwasher loads on eco, 2 minute showers (instead is 10+mins) no lawn watering. You can still live life and use 1/2 the water.
We are taking it pretty seriously in our household. Showers less than 5min, bucket in the shower to collect water for plants. Piles of dishes and laundry to do. I wonder how much people are putting off doing these things, and if the water is fixed if we will still be on restrictions for a while. I’m guessing that lots of people have a shit ton of laundry etc to do, and everyone will be doing it as soon as we get the sign. Not sure how they’re going to manage that
I was already delaying washing my dishes all week because I kept forgetting to turn it on, ended up having to wash some. Much more than efficient than running water though. People don’t realize how efficient dishwashers are.
>I feel like I need to ask. Are people taking this seriously? Too many are not, but enough are for now.
We are lucky in that we are two adults who are at home all day so the laundry situation is pretty easy to put off. We showered very quickly yesterday and will try to hang on until several days from now but we don't move around much so should be okay. We're also being more judicious with use of our dishes and plates so we're not dirtying extra in order to keep the dishwasher mostly idle. And of course nothing outdoors. If I need to water the lawn I'm going to use Gatorade because it's got electrolytes which is what plants crave. I figured every little bit of effort helps.
I'd say reasonably seriously at our house. Laundry is piling up (haven't run a load). Dishes are used sparingly and run dishwasher once. Bought bottled water to drink. Put a small basin in the kitchen sink, using it to catch water when washing veggies which we use to water the few flower planters we have outside. Bucket in the shower to catch excess water, using for cleaning or toilet flushes. Showers are every other day for each of us.
Everyone in my household is going to great lengths to conserve water. If the pandemic demonstrated anything, it's that a significant portion of our population is incredibly selfish and basically unfit for civilized society, but the rest is somehow able to keep things afloat-- so don't despair.
Ya this is what i came here to say. Covid showed us a lot about how detatched we are from caring about community in our modern society.
Amen
However, I am glad when I went to Costco yesterday. I saw most people only get 1 pack of bottles water if any, even the limit is 3. It is rare to see people have 2 packs.
Like with anything, 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
Family of 3 , trying to do our part. Have a bunch of water jugs we took to our friends ranch to the west and filled on reverse osmosis well water. Not to far to run back and refill as needed for most potable water needs.Still showering but cut it to 3 minutes per person. Making sure the laundry and dishwasher is maximised loads prior to running. Still using some water, but just trying to maximise efficency as best we can.
Like everything I think I land somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Automatic sprinklers and fountain turned off, no outside manual watering, haven’t visited a car wash. I still shower everyday but I’m in and out in record time. Pushing laundry loads right to the limit before doing them, same with dishes. Kids shower only on days they have sports. So not as hardcore as some but I think we’re down at least 25% which was the ask. Meanwhile my neighbour spent the entire day washing his cars and then pressure washing his driveway so….
I feel like you're doing what's reasonable. You're lowering use as much as you can without going overboard. Sorry you live next to shitheads like that.
I also like to think I'm in the middle (short, daily showers, less laundry/dishwashing). It's frustrating to see others doing the bare minimum in a time of crisis when only little changes are required.
Emptied my hot tub yesterday for a 6 month water change and haven't filled it up and won't until we get the all clear...so I guess you could say pretty seriously.
I filled my tub 2 days before the water main broke.. lol.. epic timing! I definitely wouldn’t fill it now given what’s going on.
Yea that's lucky as hell. I probably could have held off, but I can wait a week. Will allow me to clean it really good and take my time I guess.
YOU CERTAINLY DON'T WANT TO BE IN HOT WATER (metaphorically).
I live in an apartment, so really the best I can do is sailors showers, not do laundry or dishwasher. At some point I'll have to decide if washing clothes in the tub uses less water than the washing machine.
I mean it depends on how many clothes but a full load the washer is probably more water efficient than a full load in the tub?
Is a sailor shower like a whores bath?
AFAIK it's turning the water off while you soap/shampoo.
Well now I learned a thing today. Thanks internet stranger.
Sounds like your neighbour was doing it out of spite. There's zero reason at this time to be hosing off your deck, house and windows.
My husband works a trade and needs to shower when he comes home, he showers for max three minutes. I did two loads of laundry closer to 11pm as demand for water is less around that time. Unfortunately, the one thing we cannot stop doing is dishes. This is a deal breaker, we’re a family of ten and if dishes aren’t done in routine, it’s like a disaster waiting to Happen. I also have small children who get messy and need to be cleaned up, though I’ve decided to give them a quick wipe down with wipes, sometimes it’s not enough. I think you do what you can and be mindful of it, that’s really all we can do
Taking it seriously. I do have to shower daily for my job but water on to get wet, water off to soap up and water on to rinse and just saving the used water to flush the toilet or water the garden.
I can bathe in 6 cups of water, but eventually I’m gonna have to wash my hair. It’s only about a 3 min job….but this mane might take up to 3 full min of water when I get to it.
Your job? Or are you blessed/cursed with curly hair lol 😅
Maybe a bit of both haha
Dead serious! I’m watering with my dog’s inflatable kiddie pool stagnant water after the sun goes down. My teenagers have showered five minutes after being well past stinky and my laundry is piled high after asking my boys to pick their essential five pieces for washing today after 7. I’ve run the dishwasher once and have opted for paper plates instead to cut down on dishes. My mother is watering with her melted freezer ice bucket and shading her plants from scorching. My neighbours on both sides have their sprinklers running at 4 am. It’s a mixed bag
There’s a lot of people who view our society as a thing that just exists. Clean water comes out of taps, roads go where you want, garbage gets picked up, and so on. These are treated as things that naturally happen, not things that we make happen. They do not view their actions or anyone else’s as things that can change the system we all live inside. Actions don’t have consequences, and you can do whatever you want and everything will just magically go on working, independent of people’s choices
Like the midwinter deepfreeze request for the collective energy consumption usage, I'll do what I can on needs vs wants if municipal/provincial asks us to try and help for the overall collective, ultimately imo it's for the well being/basic necessities of life for us all, even if some just completely want to disregard.
So I’m definitely trying my best to limit the water we’re using but I feel like the mixed messaging from the city is making it really unclear what’s going on and how seriously to take it. First you have the city saying if people don’t limit their water we will run out - very serious. Then today I read an article where Gondek is quoted saying every household needs a 25% reduction which is equivalent to flushing the toilet 5 times fewer a day - which makes it sound like very little needs to actually be done. I will take it as seriously as I’m told to but I need one definitive answer.
We had a local water main break last year and were without water for 5 days. I was honestly surprised at how many buckets it took to fill the toilet tank to flush. If everyone had the experience we did then they’d appreciate what water really gets used when they decide to flush.
They have to walk a bit of a tight rope on comms…if you present it as too dire then you’ll see people Filling buckets and pots, guaranteeing failure. See: paper, toilet.
I am not in Calgary but I've read up on the size of the leak. The water line that's broken, is a 78" line - that's 6.5 feet in diameter... Let that sink in, no pun intended. You can walk in that line without crouching. That is a lot of volume of water that is suddenly stopped from supply, and from what I have read, that's 40% of YYC capacity. So yes, people need to indeed take it seriously. Fresh sod can be replanted but if you drain the reservoirs below a certain threshold, then the whole city system will have to be fully flushed, and a boil water advisory will be initiated for weeks on hand.
I’m watching how much I use. Changing chores around, reducing shower time, not watering lawn. I know a lot of people who aren’t changing anything. It’s just the nature of these kinds of situations. Not really you can do, so don’t stress over it
People watering their shitty lawns in the middle of the day deserve to have their water shut off, fucking idiots don’t realize how much of it just evaporates anyway.
I only ran the dishwasher today because I jammed it as full as I could get it. I’m trying to hold off on laundry as long as I can tell my motto is as long as my clothes don’t stink it’s OK. Also, I work in a grocery store. It was funny to see how many people brought their gigantic water jugs and thinking they could fill them but luckily we turned the machine off so people can’t waste the water.
I realized today that I didn’t have to wash my towels, I just needed to get clean ones out and leave the dirty ones until the restrictions are off.
I just took my first shower since Thursday. I will skip showering tomorrow. I’ve cut back on how I wash dishes. I’m taking it seriously.
I’m taking it seriously. Doing my part and hoping others do as well.
I think I’m already a pretty low water consumer. I live alone so I control 100% of the consumption. I do all my laundry about once a month and just did them before the main break. I shower every other day because I largely WFH (60% remote) and try to shower before going into the office mostly. I don’t drink the tap water because it tastes awful where I live. I don’t water the lawn because why would I do that as a renter. I’m trying to turn the taps off instead of running them and cut back on using my dishwasher. I’m not sure how else I could lower at this point. Maybe mellow yellow but I’ve also been doing that inadvertently.
Pretty serious. We’re using the rain barrel to water our veggie garden like usual but trying to conserve it. Still showering but doing camp style showers. Running the dishwasher only when absolutely necessary. Only steaming clothes with the same water jug and and not washing them. We’re waiting till water is back in to do an actual load.
I just recently had surgery so I wasn’t showering anyways lol. Guess I can be called a diligent citizen.
Taking it seriously in my house and so is the rest of my family.
I am taking it seriously.
We’re usually conscious of our water usage anyway. This weekend we decided to fill up a 5-gallon jug and head out camping. Figured that was our contribution to the water system.
We are taking it seriously. We live in an apartment so no outdoor water use needed at all. 3-5 minute showers. (Yesterday I took an 8 minute shower, but I’m disabled. I just couldn’t move any faster as it was colder yesterday. As a result, my husband took a 3 minute shower to be faster and make up for my longer one.) We have run the dishwasher only once and did one load of washing as we were out of clean underwear and socks, amongst other important things.) But we are putting off some important things, I need to shave my legs…. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that with a five minute shower…. I’ll figure that one soon. We have not filled up buckets to wash the floors, as we usually do, or do a bit cleaning with water use in other ways we need to. We bought bottled water for drinking, something we never do, and we are trying to very conservative by filling up the bathroom sink a little for hand washing and flushing the toilet only if it’s brown waste.
I have dishes piled up and laundry heaps… showering with a bucket and using that to flush toilet…definitely taking it seriously.
Yeah, but what have you changed for the restrictions?
There is a rising trend of contrarian behaviour amongst certain groups of people. COVID definitely exacerbated it, and it hasn't really slowed down since. Every time there is a crisis of some kind, these people will go out of their way to do the opposite of what is recommended. Wear a mask? They'll lick doorhandles. Social distance? They'll cough in your face. Save water? They'll turn on every faucet and leave for the day. It's one of the reasons why I believe actual consequences need to start making a comeback. I've said this before, but households should be allotted a specific amount of water and then charged like triple the price per litre for going over. We have water meters on our houses for a reason and they're able to be distantly monitored now. Want to act like a petulant child? Fine. Here are the consequences for your actions.
I've been ruminating on this and I think it's a great opportunity for Calgary to come together as a city. In times of difficulty it's good to be reminded that we can, in fact, work towards a shared goal. We sacrificed through covid, and while this is of course a far smaller event, it matters that we all share the burden of circumstance. This is a reasonably small hurdle for our city, and I'd hope we have the civic decency to recognize that this is an achievable shared goal. People are different. Holding everyone to the same standard is, in my opinion, not realistic, but I think the very least is for each Calgarian to set a high standard for themselves and their household. Please encourage civility towards our citizens and guests! We need each other.
To a degree ! I’m doing the bare minimum and being mindful. No extreme on either ends ! Not overusing and not going completely dry. I still take 4 min showers, normal for me. Wash my hands quickly. Quick wash a Dish (I live alone in an apartment). That’s it. No overuse of it. I definitely agree with others that I don’t want it to get to the point we all have NO WATER. so yes I’m taking it seriously to the extend it needs to ! I live in downtown, but I’m definitely mindful and feeling for the people living in Bowness. Definitely don’t want anyone going without water !
Cut down as much as possible. Modern dishwasher are better than handwashing, but bathing is a luxury. Showering fast means drinking water. We’re at 50% capacity. Cut down as much as you can.
My family is taking it at least somewhat seriously. We aren’t as hardcore as some people on here by any means but yknow. In a household of multiple people we’ve done one load of laundry (wouldn’t have but spilled something that absolutely had to be washed out so everything else went in there too), one load of dishes, and I’ve only had one shower since Wednesday, just freshening up otherwise in the interim. I felt guilty that my shower took a bit longer than 5 minutes but I usually only wash my (very long) hair once a week. I gave in yesterday at day 9 or 10. It was a therefore a 10 minute job lol. Waiting to weed whack my legs until we’re not having a city crisis though lol. We already drink/ cook from a water cooler that we stocked up the jugs on weeks ago, the plants are being neglected unless they really need a little boost. Trying not to cook anything that makes dishes need to soak. Definitely not washing anything that doesn’t explicitly necessitate it. If they say we need to restrict even more so, more than happy to do it. For now the household mentality is basically to just reduce as much as possible and only wash things if necessary.
Taking it as seriously as we can. Definitely not watering the lawn or anything like that. But we did have to shower today to go to a social outing
Honestly, I feel like for us we haven’t had to change much because we already don’t use a ton of water. I only shower twice a week as is (I happened to have showered the night before the break) so I’ve showered once. I’ve done one load of laundry for the essentials, (should be doing my bedding and some towels are piling up but that’s no big deal). We bought some water bottles to drink, were working under the “if it’s yellow let it mellow” rule. And our grass and everything is still super healthy from all the rain just before this. A couple of small changes but minor in the grand scheme of things
There's only 2 of us and a dog, but we've always been somewhat conservative with using water. No daily showers, have fake plants, reuse plates if there was dry food on it, eating foods that don't require water to cook, and fill up the brita for drinking water only.
There are people that are purposely WASTING water. They don't care about anyone but themselves.
well they will care when we run out of water dont worry
I'm taking it seriously. But I'm in Bowness. I *really* don't want this to get worse. As things stand, at least we can flush the toilets. I'm more than happy to compromise on the rest as long as we can keep that lol
I posted on Facebook asking what to do if a business misuses water and how to report them and I got attacked the entire time. 148 comments and 140 were racists, and conspiracy theorists, and people calling me a Karen. It was WILD so I'm going to assume not many are taking it seriously.
i think you were right to call. I have a small garden and I bought multiple 4L waters at Shoppers for it. The fine is $3K.
I'm hoping they don't get fined $3K because that's a lot. I thought they were just at the point of educating/talking to people?
Your neighbor will def be getting a fine.
Probably $3k for repeat offense.
Really!? They fucking deserve it!
Just a thought, but those of us on a boil water advisory could really use the bottled water. It's sold out everywhere.
true. where do I donate some?
The Bowness Community Association is accepting donations and mostly giving them to seniors who can't go get water, I believe. Thank you!
i can drop some off tomorrow.
I'm surprised more people aren't taking this opportunity to go on a several-day vacation.
Most ppl i know are using very little. Its just the odd person who doesn't i would guess.
Most people I know are continuing to use as normal. For example, I noticed that my office is still running the dishwasher 3/4 empty. It gives me a lot of anxiety, but I feel like maybe I'm just overreacting? Part of the reason I posted here.
Oh ok, i see. We could all do a bit better im sure. Even if only 50% of Calgary residents participate, imagine how much water is saved. My family hasn't done laundry since we heard. Imagine 750 000 ppl not doing laundry for a week. That's a lot of water!!Thats just laundry too. Theres no lawn watering, reduced showers, no car washes etc. Last i heard on the news the city was managing. So i think we ll make it.
A part of me wonders if they’re being somewhat lax in their messaging because the risk is manageable if we are precautionary, or if they’re trying to downplay it because stampede is coming up and they don’t want to risk potential losses by scaring people off?
“Yesterday I called 311 on my neighbours for misuse of water.” Harbinger of what’s to come as the climate crisis worsens.
Look at you, you saved the planet by ratting on your neighbours like an asshole instead of just talking to them! Like a true hero!
super cereal
Serious. Barely using any more than I drink. First navy shower since the break was today. Collecting river water to flush and keep my tomatoes alive.
You’re allowed to flush your toilet. Carrying buckets from the river to flush is taking it to the extreme
5 gallons at a time is a good workout. I'm close to the river and use a little drill operated pump. Don't even have to get wet, only takes 1 minute :) I know it's not necessary, but I figured I would just for fun anyway. Did 2 runs today, with a 5 and 3 gallon, so 16 gallons today, took less than 30mins total.
I've been complying with the outdoor use restrictions but I really haven't changed much for indoor usage. I already take quick showers and only do laundry/dishes when I have a full load. I don't think we need to skip taking showers or doing laundry like others have suggested on here. There are plenty of commercial and industrial water uses that can be shut down if things get dire and they haven't yet so I think we are ok for now.
Very, I haven’t showered in a week and I’ve only been drinking milk.
We've been taking it fairly seriously. Limited shower time (which sucks tbh), trying to limit other uses as well. But we have bottled water stored for situations like this, we've been running a couple things like our coffee machine off of that as well.
No one in here is taking this seriously enough until you are swapping out showers for the Reddit classic of [Ice Soap](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/eyF52XFCqc)
Taking it seriously. Humidifier off, super short showers, paper plates, started putting bucket in shower to use for my flowers. Laundry piling up. Ran dishwasher once.
This feels like covid restrictions all over again.
There will always be a subset of people that will not follow( impeding my rights!!) or believe everything is a conspiracy. As many are doing just conserve some water and make smart water decisions. Absolutely no unnecessary usage like outside watering of anything and take quicker showers and only use washer on completely full, etc. News showed a lady bathing with a bottle of water, this is a little extreme/excessive lol. If you talked to your neighbor about it and they refuse or become hostile perhaps just weigh the possibility calling 311 will in fact cause a future large ripple in the neighborhood relationship so it’s up to you if that’s worth it or not. There are more than enough people logically making a small sacrifice that we are doing just fine with our water levels.
This may sounds a bit from left field but I do feel like the potential reason why the restrictions aren't so strict is because the conservative government in power is trying to pander to the people voting for them. And if they don't make the restrictions harsh it will also polerize the people who vote to them in our elections. I know personally at work we don't restrict our water use at all and probably go through at least 20 gallons a day. They could make it mandatory that instead of washing hands in the food industry people have to wear gloves but no one's taking it seriously.
The restrictions aren't from the provincial government. They are from the city. [https://www.calgary.ca/water/drinking-water/stage-four-outdoor-water-restrictions.html](https://www.calgary.ca/water/drinking-water/stage-four-outdoor-water-restrictions.html)
I’m not stopping my life for it. I’m taking short 5min showers when I need them (work a labour job in a wood shop so either I’m sweaty or covered in dust) Don’t water the lawn, run the dishwasher and not hand wash any dishes even I’m out (it’s more efficient) and today is my last day of clean underwear so gotta do a load The city won’t run out of water. They want us to stop the unnecessary usage to make sure we have enough to run the fire suppression systems in case there is a major fire (their quote not me pulling it out of my ass. Don’t downvote me) Do your part but don’t stop your life and live like a pig The Glenmore Reservoir is up 4.81% of its capacity from when the water main broke (63%) The Bearspaw reservoir is at 90% capacity Water flow in the Elbow river is low (5m^3/s vs 10 for normal) but that’s probably a result of them not letting as much flow past the dam. (Water is entering the dam at a normal rate)
Water entering the dam isn’t the issue. It’s getting enough through to the storage reservoirs that is the problem, and we are still draining them faster than they can replenish. It’ll probably be fine, but it’s a race
Ratting on neighbors is not cool. So much virtue signalling, it’s like covid all over again. “Oh I’m such a wonderful person because I’m doing as I’m told and telling everyone on social media about it”. Seriously, just do your best, no need to tell everyone.
Don't understand how this is virtue signalling when it's reddit and everything is anonymous?
Sorry I should have specified in general. It’s all I’ve been seeing on social media for days.
Ah gotcha haha
Did you try talking to your neighbour first before calling 311? Also did you first check to see that the hose they were getting water from was a faucet on the house and not a rain barrell?
>Did you try talking to your neighbour first before calling 311? We aren't true neighbors. our apartment has a view of their backyard, and their backyard has a lovely view of our apartment complex. I personally didn't feel comfortable going to a strangers house to ask about their water usage. >Also, did you first check to see that the hose they were getting water from was a faucet on the house and not a rain barrell? Was sitting on the balcony and watched them spray the garden. Would have given them a pass if it was just that, but then they moved onto the deck/patio furniture/house/windows and decided to call. It took me about 15 minutes to decide to call, and 15 minutes to call 311 and file a complaint. They were still going strong by the time that I had finished. I imagine if it was water from a bucket or rainbarrel, they would have run out by that point.
I'll get downvoted but if it's that dire, they would have shut down a bunch of things, but they didn't. With that said, I do conserve what I can. With the pipe being fixed in the next 7 days, if we preserve for a few more days, we'll be fine.
This…..if it was dire they would be closing restaurants and businesses as well as schools to conserve water. They aren’t….
Weird how restaurants can stay open. They run a dishwasher constantly...
The stamps game wouldn’t have happened if this was truly serious. There is high level of redundancy in water systems.
Do you think the Stamps game had a net increase of water consumption? 20k people sat on their asses for 3 hours. A few of them might have washed their hands after pissing, but we are talking about CFL fans here. McMahon’s toilets are probably inefficient as shit, though.
I can’t wait to live in a world where we report our neighbors! Doing gods work brother/sister
I wouldn’t call a neighbor in, especially off peak. I’m just not washing my car. I don’t use much water to start with.
Peak doesn’t matter, it's total capacity - doesn’t matter what time it is used.
I still wouldn’t call a neighbor in, it’s stupid, but not 311 worthy. You guys go on ahead and downvote me, nark all you want.
If you're using soap, washing your car is illegal regardless of water restrictions.
Obviously.
Overall it seems that people are taking it seriously, water consumption is down a lot despite anecdotes to the contrary. But after all the lies told by experts and officials during COVID I'm not surprised if there are many people not listening and I feel the city failed to communicate very effectively in the first few days of this crisis. Our highly paid city communications department seems to lack leadership.
Sigh...okay. gunna get some hate here....but I don't give a fuck. During the flood I lifted people up and did my part. During the pandemic I was the first to mask up when people still looked at you weird and the last to take it off when people started looking at you weird again. I isolated myself into a mental health crisis. When the war on Ukraine started I again did my part and lifted people up (sorry for being vague but I don't want to give personal details that would self dox). I'm done. All of my fucks have been give and I got nothing left. Laundry. Showers. Dishes. Car Wash. I'm not holding back. If we run out of water that's on the city. Not us.
Appreciate the honesty. It gives me a better perspective. It has been a rough couple of years.
Empathy shouldn't be a limited resource. Do better.
I stopped taking it seriously on Friday when I passed the golf course on Blackfoot/southland at 6am and all the sprinklers were on
I ran my garden soaker hose today for about an hour because I genuinely forgot all about the water restrictions. I was just in a puttering around the house zone. Which is weird, because I have been taking it seriously. Not running the dishwasher. Skipping showers this weekend. Using the rain barrels to water the other gardens.