Critical Need for Water Conservation

August 17, 2023

The East Kootenays are in stage 4 drought conditions and the City of Fernie urgently needs residents to reduce water consumption to maintain the health of our community. Water at the City’s primary drinking water source, Fairy Creek is experiencing turbidity levels over 5 NTUs, and the secondary source is struggling to keep up with demands. Switching back to the Fairy Creek source would require the City to issue a Boil Water Advisory.

The turbid water event is likely due to elevated water temperatures and with climate change we can expect these conditions to become more frequent. There are critical reasons for our community to take these restrictions seriously and do their part.

1)     The east Kootenays are in stage 4 drought conditions, and it is imperative to conserve water to maintain reservoir levels to ensure firefighting capacity.

2)      The risk of not conserving water is supplying the public with fairy creek and a boil water advisory. This could also affect our ability to effectively treat the water long term.

3)     Distributing turbid water also means sending more sediment into the water pipes which can have poor impact on not just the City’s infrastructure, but your household appliances as well.

To do our part, the City is ceasing ALL watering of grass on City owned properties with the exception of the Max Turyk Sports Fields. We have closed our commercial water fill station, we're deferring seeding grass, and we are collaborating with local businesses to alter their operations to reduce consumption.

You can do your part by not watering your lawn, reducing all non-essential water outdoor use - washing cars, filling pools or hot tubs, cleaning outdoor surfaces and limiting necessary watering of vegetable gardens to evenings and early mornings.

Other conservation tips: take shorter showers, don't run water while brushing your teeth, run the dishwasher only when it's full, and regularly check hoses and faucets for leaks.