It’s been one week since Halifax Water asked more than 100,000 in the Dartmouth area to do things like take shorter showers and run a full dishwasher – and a local company says it has been a nightmare.
A voluntary conservation noticed was issued November 14 for Westphal, Dartmouth, Cole Harbour, Burnside, North Preston and Eastern Passage because of low levels at the areas water supply- Lake Major.
MacLeans Water, who fills up on the Dartmouth side of the harbour, are run off their feet.
Dominik Typert tells our newsroom, it’s been so dry lately, they have been working sunup to sundown with more headaches on the way.
“Right now, the phone is ringing off the hook. We are limited to so much we can do in the day, because now, as of Friday afternoon they are shutting down the loading stations in Burnside and Woodside.”
Typert says that means anytime they need to fill up again to serve the Eastern Shore, they have to drive all the way out to places like Bayers Lake and Beaverbank.
“That’s going to add so much time on to our day. Even just going across the bridge and getting through Joe Howe is a nightmare lately. And how much longer is it going to take us to get water? All the water trucks are going to be…we’re going to be like cows out of watering holes.”
The longer commute will also mean MacLeans Water will have to jack up their prices a bit but, but at the same time, want to remain fair.
“We’re going to discuss it over the weekend, because I mean, there is the bridge fare. For us to cross the bridge just one way is five bucks for us. So, for one load, that’s an additional $10 and our cost, plus the fuel.”
Wells are really dry
MacLeans Water delivers to many different places including hospitals, restaurants, schools and wells.
But right now, Typert says, they are so swamped, they are only able to fill a well up halfway.
“Even the other day, it was like that …just an overwhelming amount of calls. I said, ‘Look, I can give you half a load so I can get two wells done at the same time.’ And they went, ‘Yup, no problem.’ Half a load is better than no load, right?”
Even then, she says, the ground is so dry the water might get reabsorbed.
“There is zero guarantee that the water will even stay in the well, because it sometimes just goes straight back in the ground. There’s a guy that lives across the road from the high school. We were there pretty well every 10 days, on the money.”
Rain on the way… but not enough
We have had dryer than normal weather for months now.
Environment Canada meteorologist Ian Hubbard says the average rainfall for November in Halifax is 139mm and so far, there has been just under 15mm.
“We’re currently seeing well below precipitation for the month of November”, says Hubbard, “and that’s kind of been the trend for the past couple of months going right back to August for some areas.”
Other areas in Nova Scotia have also been experiencing a bit of a drought including the south shore.
The Region of Queens has a conservation notice for Liverpool and Brooklyn.
As for Dartmouth, Halifax Water says they have been watching levels at Lake Major for weeks and knew that now was the time to act.
Brittney Smith, Senior Communications Advisor says even with the rain on the way over the next couple of days, it’s not nearly enough.
“So, unfortunately we do have quite a bit of rain coming this weekend, but we honestly need all the rain we can get.”
The voluntary conservation notice will remain in effect until further notice.
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