Calgary's water use remains 'unsustainable'; showers shuttered at arenas, soccer centre, athletic parks

The City of Calgary says water use increased again on Thursday despite demands from city officials for residents and businesses to conserve water.

According to Calgary's potable water demand dashboard, 502 million litres of water was used on Thursday, up two million litres from Wednesday.

It's the second consecutive day that water use has been at an "unsustainable" level.

Officials say that anything above 500 million litres makes it difficult to fill underground tanks and puts a strain on the water system.

Friday afternoon, city spokesperson Francois Bouchart said there was a gap of about 15 million litres a day between what the city is consuming and what it produces.

He said if every household skipped one flush a day, the savings would amount to eight million litres a day, while skipping two would cover the gap.

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The target water use remains at 485 million litres per day while construction is ongoing to repair the Bearspaw feeder main.

Bouchart said the city is making additional changes starting Saturday to reduce water consumption, including turning off showers in city-operated arenas, athletic parks and The Calgary Soccer Centre.

City arenas are also using non-potable water to flood ice surfaces, producing a savings of 170,000 litres of water a day. The Murray Copot Arena has announced that it will install its ice surface using non-city water.

Bouchart added that the hours of the city's three river water pick up stations have increased to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Work is expected to continue until Sept. 23.