City still urges Reginans to conserve water

REGINA – The City of Regina is still asking residents to hold off on any unnecessary water usage. Increased runoff means more algae at Buffalo Pound, making the water tougher to treat.

“The quality of the lake water is a challenge right now,” said Pat Wilson with the City of Regina.

As such, there’s a reduced volume of treated water.

This hasn’t been a problem since the 1980’s and there’s no word on when the issue will be resolved. Currently, the city is using eight back-up wells to increase water capacity.

For now, she’s hoping people will refrain from washing cars, watering lawns and using excess water for daily activities, while staff at the water treatment facility adjusts the chemicals used in the treatment process.

“We’re hoping and believe strongly this will be a short term measure…but we’ll have updates in the near future,” said Mayor Michael Fougere.

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan are two years into a study with the aim of predicting the conditions that lead to problematic algae blooms.

“About 20 years ago, the problems weren’t nearly as severe, and then they became within a couple years, rapidly much more severe,” said Helen Baulch, U of S School of Environment and Sustainability assistant professor.

The researchers thought the lake might be improving, but Baulch cautioned municipalities who believe this summer is a one – off.

“There’s a lot of discussion about harmful algal blooms and climate change and certainly we do see climate change and increases in water temperature as leading to increased risk of harmful algal blooms,” she said.

Baulch added treatment plant upgrades already in the works will help, but the problem won’t go away overnight.