Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has announced that residents can return to normal indoor water use but should “ease” back into their old usage habits.
Residents and businesses are both allowed to return to normal indoor water use. Meanwhile, stage 4 outdoor restrictions remain in effect, as does the State of Local Emergency and the fire ban.
Stage 4 outdoor water restrictions ban all outdoor water use. Fines for violating restrictions start at $3,000.
The state of emergency and subsequent restrictions affected Calgary, Airdrie, Chestermere, Strathmore, and Tsuut’ina Nation. The state of emergency was implemented so that Calgary could access private property if required for repair work. It is set to expire Thursday, and Calgary’s chief of the emergency management agency, Susan Henry, will announce whether it needs to be renewed or can be lifted at a future update.
Gondek apologized again for her poor communication during the water crisis. She has called for a comprehensive third-party review of what happened to the pipe, the steps taken to fix it, and a review of the city’s response. The review of the city’s response will aim to specifically address communication issues that led to neighbouring communities not receiving necessary information in a timely fashion.
“I promise we will get to the bottom of all of these issues. We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” said Gondek at Tuesday’s morning press conference.
While residents are generally expected to rally around a leader during times of crisis, polls show the opposite happened with Gondek, resulting in her becoming less popular than Trudeau.
“I’ve also committed to take our learnings and advocate for all municipalities across Canada. We need a national push to ensure that funding is available to fix and replace vital infrastructure before we see more catastrophic failures,” said Gondek.
The mayor’s initial poor communication led to her promising to update Calgarians daily each morning, followed by a daily update in the afternoon by the Emergency Operations Centre regarding the progress of the repairs.
Tuesday’s press conference will be Gondek’s last. Henry will give the following updates.
Indoor water restrictions previously asked Calgarians to keep showers to three minutes or less, do dishes or laundry only with full loads, scrape plates rather than rinsing or use paper plates, turn off the tap when brushing teeth, flush the toilet less, and more.
Now, residents can return to normal, but the city asked residents to consider spacing out activities that use lots of water, such as laundry, to help the city keep up with demand. Businesses can return to normal. Some companies that were forced to close, such as indoor pools and car washes, will reopen.
“The reductions that you have been doing at home are not needed anymore, so you can return to using water inside your home the way that you were used to. We are asking that people ease into this, though, so we can continue to make sure that we’ve got enough water supply for everyone,” said Gondek.
As Calgary’s water restrictions ease, another Canadian city has been hit with a water contamination scare.
A boil water advisory has been implemented across Halifax and will remain in effect until further notice.
The advisory comes after an electrical issue at a local water treatment facility, which allowed a limited amount of unchlorinated water to enter the system. There is a possibility of unsafe drinking water for many communities in Halifax.
Residents are advised to boil water for at least one minute before any activities involving consuming water.
