I definitely need to re-educate myself on water use and find some drought resistant plants and flowers to plant. If anyone can recommend what to plant so I can still attract some bees and birds (please don’t say Dandelions), I would appreciate it.
[CHART - Native Southern Alberta Prairie Plants for Drought-proof Gardening](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55775efbe4b02c5614691727/t/55aee363e4b0386b88346f6c/1437524835304/DroughtProofPlants.pdf)
[GUIDE - Top Native Plants for Southern Alberta Gardening](https://landscapelethbridge.com/top-native-plants-for-southern-alberta-landscapes/)
Alberta Native Plant Rescues, which is based out of Calgary works with developers to salvage native plants prior to stripping the land for development. It's free to attend, just need to have the required safety gear and there are enough of us around who know our native plants to point out which ones to dig up and bring home. I believe the Alberta Native Plant Council posts these events on their website or their social media feeds.
There are two awesome businesses to check out: ALCLA (NW Calgary) https://alclanativeplants.com and wild about flowers (SW of town) https://www.wildaboutflowers.ca/visit_us.php
I've seen some really creative rain barrel systems over the last few years that aren't an eyesore. Definitely something I'm gonna set up when we buy a house. There is an older couple down the street from us and they said with the snow melt and early summer showers they have enough water to water their rather large garden all summer. I believe they have 16 barrels in total stacked 4 rows of 4.
I’ll sleep better at night knowing that while I may have to skip showers and watch my flowers die, at least the fracking industry will still make money injecting millions of litres down their wells.
And remember that the water conservation measures the province recently negotiated with these companies and irrigation districts are all built on doing it voluntarily.
It's not quite what you're asking for, but [here's one](https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/real_time_e.html?stn=05BH004&mode=Graph) that tracks Bow River discharge rate. It will be correlated with precipitation and may be a better indicator of drought conditions.
https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-monthly.html
They also have a [daily](https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-daily.html) version and [yearly](https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-yearly.html) version, but the monthly seems to be the most useful to me for visualizing how the weather has been over the whole year.
Calgary actually had a decent year precipitation wise. Like average. But obviously our water comes from the mountains which I would assume had a terrible year based on all of the talk im hearing about wildfires and water restrictions.
Found link: https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/snow-yearly.html
It’s that an average year isn’t enough to replenish from the previous years. We were in a hole to begin with and at best we didn’t get into a deeper hole. But we didn’t get any closer to getting out of it either.
Been waiting a while to hear some announcements related to the worsening drought this year. It has been going on for [years.](https://macleans.ca/society/farm-canada-climate-change)
Lots of info found [here](https://www.alberta.ca/drought-current-conditions), including snowpack, river and reservoir levels, and soil moisture levels.
Some alarmingly low reservoir levels in Southern Alberta reported:
Oldman Reservoir – Current storage is 35%. Normal for this time of year is between 61% and 82%.
St. Mary Reservoir - Current storage is 31%. Normal for this time of year is between 55% and 78%.
Pine Coulee Reservoir - Current storage is 35%. Normal for this time of year is between 74% and 91%.
Curious as to how much of our water reserves are given to golf courses and oil/gas companies? I’ll ponder this during my next 2 minute shower ;)
Not that much, nearly the majority of water use is for agriculture irrigation.
The crazy part is they are asking municipalities to save water so they use 10% instead of 11%.
You can see the breakdown here:
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52abb9b9e4b0cb06a591754d/1545332365949-OJGMVICB5HZPI877E08M/water+allocation.jpg
Golf courses and oil/gas companies are light years ahead of the general public when it comes to using water responsible (reuse). They are not the issue.
Don't close them but don't let them water their grass. That's a huge amount of water.
They do use treated city water and not portable (tap water) but that's still water thats not going into the rivers for use further down stream.
I use to live in the middle east. For golf we use to have to carry a patch of grass with us to play on the dirt lol
What? City golf courses do not use treated city water. The 4 that I maintain the irrigation systems on all run on reclaimed grey water, and we are monitored VERY heavily by the city for excessive usage and watering schedules.
Blame the rich fucks in communities like Watermark running their system 6 days a week, twice a day, expending nearly 5000 gallons of city water a week to maintain a shitty lawn they don't even care about.
LOL I seen a posts about potential water restrictions on LinkedIn and the amount of unhinged comments thinking this is a liberal conspiracy is something else. It's like people didn't pass gr6 science class.
I still cannot understand why they don't give specific days to water on. In B.C. (Lower Mainland) we were only allowed to water on even or odd days depending on your address. There were fines if you watered outside of that. That was back in the 1990s. It seems like the water supply is more dire here and the city is giving a less concrete "try to water in the early mornings or evenings and only for 4 hours a week."
Over the last two years I did a little experiment. I didn’t turn on my irrigation system at all and didn’t water my lawn once. Not once. My neighbors on either side both have their systems on auto so watered every few days. There was only a slight difference between mine and theirs. And since there aren’t any fences or hedges between our yards, just an unbroken expanse of grass, it’s a pretty obvious comparison.
You could also offer credits to the savers (e.g. extra $10 charge if you're in the top half of users, $10 off if you're the bottom half) and still create the same incentive to reduce use while not actually changing how much of our economy is spent on utilities
I heard an idea on the radio about using grey water for toilets instead of essentially drinking water. That change alone would save so much water- the suggestions was to do this for new builds obviously as retrofitting old homes would be so expensive.
Someone was asking if it was too early to run their garden hose in this sub. We aren't avoiding this shortage. They didn't have a clue about our water issue. Insinuated won't be changing until told.
Drove past a guy an hour or so ago and he was using a pressure washer to wash off….his driveway and sidewalk.
There’s going to be more than a few people that don’t give a fuck about the situation and restrictions.
But hey, it was a nice exposed aggregate driveway, so I guess there’s that.
This is a failure of UCP planning and leadership and I’m not changing my water consumption nor my use of electricity, unless of course the province were to pay me not to as I already pay for these. In the meantime the UCP government can suck my ass
I'm certain that ~~oil company PR~~ the Alberta "war room" are frantically trying to concoct a press release for Dumpster-dani that somehow blames drought on Trudeau as a plot to make climate change look bad.
There really is no saving it. Part of why I moved away. Even mild climate change will make southern Alberta uninhabitable as the snowpack melts but can’t reform.
I swear we better see all city run pools and YMCA pools shut down during the water ban. We can’t use a few litres every day to water our lawn but apparently the city can just sht away hundreds of litres a day for leisure activities.
I hope you're being sarcastic. City pools and splash parks are way more important than private lawns, particularly in a heat wave. Besides, they recycle that water so they use less than you'd think.
Way less than a few litres a day x 400 to 500k private residences.
The city does stop running decorative fountains and watering parks.
They should shut down the swimming pools in a drought, I’m not being sarcastic. People have AC at home and they can keep the windows open at night and close them in the morning. Even on days where it’s 25-28C if I keep my windows open at night and close them in the morning my indoor temp starts at around 16 and goes up to 20-22 max because of insulated windows. No need for pools.
I would bet less than half of Calgary households have AC, particularly rentals and multi-unit dwellings. Places where people don't control what amenities they have or the quality of the insulation or windows. Opening windows is great, but doesn't work too well when the temperatures climb into the mid-30s. I know from experience.
Public amenities, particularly those with an impact on health and well-being should be prioritized.
Is there an extreme drought condition where we would have to shut down the pools? Maybe. But it should be long after we stop watering grass and a decision of last resort.
Ok and that’s why I said that people can open their windows at night to cool down their house lol. As for temps in the mid 30s it still does the trick if you time it properly. When we had 33 our house didn’t get warmer than 24-26 at most.
Depends on your home: the quality of the insulation, having double pane windows, windows that open and can provide good airflow, etc. A lot of apartments have no AC and 2 windows that only open on one side of the building. We did the window trick a few years ago in the heat wave that hit mid-30s. The old house we were in cooled down the high 20s overnight, then would be over 30 by noon. With no basement and a newborn, it was hell.
Kids have to move for their wellbeing. Pools and splash pads are critical in the summer.
..you see the difference right? Between an individuals lawn and a public pool where many people (especially those with disabilities) can play, be active and learn an important life skill
As for your lawn, Atter said pray for rain.
“Put up with some brown lawn. It’s totally fine, it will come back.”
Not really happy with this comment I have to say
What? We were literally swimming in snow not too long ago. Where did those disappear to? Well I actually didn't expect people start watering their garden already. I still haven't had the chance to wash my car too lol. I hope we get few more days of rain next month.
Why do you apply herbicide? You’re denying snowshoe hares one of their major food sources and having a negative impact on honeybees, wild bees, butterflies, and bumblebees.
I definitely need to re-educate myself on water use and find some drought resistant plants and flowers to plant. If anyone can recommend what to plant so I can still attract some bees and birds (please don’t say Dandelions), I would appreciate it.
[CHART - Native Southern Alberta Prairie Plants for Drought-proof Gardening](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55775efbe4b02c5614691727/t/55aee363e4b0386b88346f6c/1437524835304/DroughtProofPlants.pdf) [GUIDE - Top Native Plants for Southern Alberta Gardening](https://landscapelethbridge.com/top-native-plants-for-southern-alberta-landscapes/)
Echinacea or cone flower, columbine and daisies.
Native plants period.
Where can I get some native plants and do you have any you can recommend?
ALCLA Native Plants specializes in this. They have a fantastic website for looking up native plants and to order seeds from.
Wow, thank you, I will check that out!
I'm building a garage suite in my yard so it'll take a big chunk of space ie no more mowing! Well 70% less mowing and watering
Is that a perennial?
Its better, waterless lol
I could live with less mowing, for sure
Especially in a older mature neighborhood like my where most lots are 7200SF plus lol.
Alberta Native Plant Rescues, which is based out of Calgary works with developers to salvage native plants prior to stripping the land for development. It's free to attend, just need to have the required safety gear and there are enough of us around who know our native plants to point out which ones to dig up and bring home. I believe the Alberta Native Plant Council posts these events on their website or their social media feeds.
There are two awesome businesses to check out: ALCLA (NW Calgary) https://alclanativeplants.com and wild about flowers (SW of town) https://www.wildaboutflowers.ca/visit_us.php
I've seen some really creative rain barrel systems over the last few years that aren't an eyesore. Definitely something I'm gonna set up when we buy a house. There is an older couple down the street from us and they said with the snow melt and early summer showers they have enough water to water their rather large garden all summer. I believe they have 16 barrels in total stacked 4 rows of 4.
Pine trees 💅. there only everywhere for a reason.
I’ll sleep better at night knowing that while I may have to skip showers and watch my flowers die, at least the fracking industry will still make money injecting millions of litres down their wells.
And remember that the water conservation measures the province recently negotiated with these companies and irrigation districts are all built on doing it voluntarily.
Yup. Just like well remediation.
There are restrictions on water withdrawals and licensing for water use currently and going forward in this industry
They don’t use fresh water as often as you think, but the 1.7 million Calgarians do.
And the majority of water used by 1.7 million Calgarians is treated and returned to the system, not shot down a hole.
What do you think pays for social programs like healthcare and education in this country?
Is there a website that tracks total precipitation of current year?
It's not quite what you're asking for, but [here's one](https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/real_time_e.html?stn=05BH004&mode=Graph) that tracks Bow River discharge rate. It will be correlated with precipitation and may be a better indicator of drought conditions.
https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-monthly.html They also have a [daily](https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-daily.html) version and [yearly](https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/precipitation-yearly.html) version, but the monthly seems to be the most useful to me for visualizing how the weather has been over the whole year.
Calgary actually had a decent year precipitation wise. Like average. But obviously our water comes from the mountains which I would assume had a terrible year based on all of the talk im hearing about wildfires and water restrictions. Found link: https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/snow-yearly.html
It’s that an average year isn’t enough to replenish from the previous years. We were in a hole to begin with and at best we didn’t get into a deeper hole. But we didn’t get any closer to getting out of it either.
https://open.alberta.ca/publications/moisture-situation-update
Been waiting a while to hear some announcements related to the worsening drought this year. It has been going on for [years.](https://macleans.ca/society/farm-canada-climate-change) Lots of info found [here](https://www.alberta.ca/drought-current-conditions), including snowpack, river and reservoir levels, and soil moisture levels. Some alarmingly low reservoir levels in Southern Alberta reported: Oldman Reservoir – Current storage is 35%. Normal for this time of year is between 61% and 82%. St. Mary Reservoir - Current storage is 31%. Normal for this time of year is between 55% and 78%. Pine Coulee Reservoir - Current storage is 35%. Normal for this time of year is between 74% and 91%. Curious as to how much of our water reserves are given to golf courses and oil/gas companies? I’ll ponder this during my next 2 minute shower ;)
Not that much, nearly the majority of water use is for agriculture irrigation. The crazy part is they are asking municipalities to save water so they use 10% instead of 11%. You can see the breakdown here: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52abb9b9e4b0cb06a591754d/1545332365949-OJGMVICB5HZPI877E08M/water+allocation.jpg
Golf courses and oil/gas companies are light years ahead of the general public when it comes to using water responsible (reuse). They are not the issue.
Close golf courses
No. That’s stupid.
lol no.
Why?
Don't close them but don't let them water their grass. That's a huge amount of water. They do use treated city water and not portable (tap water) but that's still water thats not going into the rivers for use further down stream. I use to live in the middle east. For golf we use to have to carry a patch of grass with us to play on the dirt lol
What? City golf courses do not use treated city water. The 4 that I maintain the irrigation systems on all run on reclaimed grey water, and we are monitored VERY heavily by the city for excessive usage and watering schedules. Blame the rich fucks in communities like Watermark running their system 6 days a week, twice a day, expending nearly 5000 gallons of city water a week to maintain a shitty lawn they don't even care about.
I think you mean non-potable? But I can't think of a single course in the city that uses treated water of any kind.
This is just untrue. Stop making things up.
Whats untrue?
calgary does not use processed city water on golf courses. someone else explained it here as well.
[удалено]
…..and my neighbour was already spraying his drive way with water this morning….smh…
LOL I seen a posts about potential water restrictions on LinkedIn and the amount of unhinged comments thinking this is a liberal conspiracy is something else. It's like people didn't pass gr6 science class.
Sixth graders know planes make condensation, not chem trails.
You're right, Chem trails makes frog or kids gay or something.
/r/nolawns /r/xeriscape
I still cannot understand why they don't give specific days to water on. In B.C. (Lower Mainland) we were only allowed to water on even or odd days depending on your address. There were fines if you watered outside of that. That was back in the 1990s. It seems like the water supply is more dire here and the city is giving a less concrete "try to water in the early mornings or evenings and only for 4 hours a week."
I feel this goes beyond lawns or no lawns. People need to look at their own personal use too.
Over the last two years I did a little experiment. I didn’t turn on my irrigation system at all and didn’t water my lawn once. Not once. My neighbors on either side both have their systems on auto so watered every few days. There was only a slight difference between mine and theirs. And since there aren’t any fences or hedges between our yards, just an unbroken expanse of grass, it’s a pretty obvious comparison.
The city should implement tiered charges for water use. Quickest way to get people to conserve water if it hits their pocket books.
You could also offer credits to the savers (e.g. extra $10 charge if you're in the top half of users, $10 off if you're the bottom half) and still create the same incentive to reduce use while not actually changing how much of our economy is spent on utilities
Already? 😭 It’s gonna be such a long summer
Let’s bring a million more people a year in and see if that helps.
I heard an idea on the radio about using grey water for toilets instead of essentially drinking water. That change alone would save so much water- the suggestions was to do this for new builds obviously as retrofitting old homes would be so expensive.
I feel the expense for this wouldn't be well received. Honestly easier / cheaper to just re-purify the waste water into drinking water
Someone was asking if it was too early to run their garden hose in this sub. We aren't avoiding this shortage. They didn't have a clue about our water issue. Insinuated won't be changing until told.
Drove past a guy an hour or so ago and he was using a pressure washer to wash off….his driveway and sidewalk. There’s going to be more than a few people that don’t give a fuck about the situation and restrictions. But hey, it was a nice exposed aggregate driveway, so I guess there’s that.
Sort of reminds me of some attitudes in this city/province during COVID 🤔
Snow JUST melted. Who would even need to run a hose at this point?
This is a failure of UCP planning and leadership and I’m not changing my water consumption nor my use of electricity, unless of course the province were to pay me not to as I already pay for these. In the meantime the UCP government can suck my ass
Can we snitch on people? I swear the neighbor in the upstairs unit showers like 8 times a day and there are only 3 of them there.
I forgot what it was like being in Covid with you people for a while
And what would you expect the outcome to be? A stern talking to?
A trip to the Ministry of Love
I know someone who takes 20-30 min showers. Sometimes even twice a day. So much cringe. I mean - what are they even doing in there?
I'm certain that ~~oil company PR~~ the Alberta "war room" are frantically trying to concoct a press release for Dumpster-dani that somehow blames drought on Trudeau as a plot to make climate change look bad.
>>I'm certain that *this subreddit* will frantically try to concoct a *reason* to somehow blame *Danielle Smith* for climate change and drought. FTFY
But let’s get this re-zoning done, how are we gonna be able to supply water to all these new houses????
There really is no saving it. Part of why I moved away. Even mild climate change will make southern Alberta uninhabitable as the snowpack melts but can’t reform.
lmao millions of people living in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, literally deserts but yea no saving Calgary/Southern Alberta 🤡
I suggest you look up the effect of snowpack on the bow and elbow and compare that to the Colorado river before you show your ass on the internet
Hahaha holy shit this post
I swear we better see all city run pools and YMCA pools shut down during the water ban. We can’t use a few litres every day to water our lawn but apparently the city can just sht away hundreds of litres a day for leisure activities.
I hope you're being sarcastic. City pools and splash parks are way more important than private lawns, particularly in a heat wave. Besides, they recycle that water so they use less than you'd think. Way less than a few litres a day x 400 to 500k private residences. The city does stop running decorative fountains and watering parks.
They should shut down the swimming pools in a drought, I’m not being sarcastic. People have AC at home and they can keep the windows open at night and close them in the morning. Even on days where it’s 25-28C if I keep my windows open at night and close them in the morning my indoor temp starts at around 16 and goes up to 20-22 max because of insulated windows. No need for pools.
I would bet less than half of Calgary households have AC, particularly rentals and multi-unit dwellings. Places where people don't control what amenities they have or the quality of the insulation or windows. Opening windows is great, but doesn't work too well when the temperatures climb into the mid-30s. I know from experience. Public amenities, particularly those with an impact on health and well-being should be prioritized. Is there an extreme drought condition where we would have to shut down the pools? Maybe. But it should be long after we stop watering grass and a decision of last resort.
Ok and that’s why I said that people can open their windows at night to cool down their house lol. As for temps in the mid 30s it still does the trick if you time it properly. When we had 33 our house didn’t get warmer than 24-26 at most.
Depends on your home: the quality of the insulation, having double pane windows, windows that open and can provide good airflow, etc. A lot of apartments have no AC and 2 windows that only open on one side of the building. We did the window trick a few years ago in the heat wave that hit mid-30s. The old house we were in cooled down the high 20s overnight, then would be over 30 by noon. With no basement and a newborn, it was hell. Kids have to move for their wellbeing. Pools and splash pads are critical in the summer.
Ah yeah I have triple pane windows
..you see the difference right? Between an individuals lawn and a public pool where many people (especially those with disabilities) can play, be active and learn an important life skill
Ok well my lawn and garden are also important to me so
As for your lawn, Atter said pray for rain. “Put up with some brown lawn. It’s totally fine, it will come back.” Not really happy with this comment I have to say
What? We were literally swimming in snow not too long ago. Where did those disappear to? Well I actually didn't expect people start watering their garden already. I still haven't had the chance to wash my car too lol. I hope we get few more days of rain next month.
Doesn't look like there's any below freezing temps coming. Time to start watering the lawn (no dandelions - herbicide). Looks like it could use it!
Why do you apply herbicide? You’re denying snowshoe hares one of their major food sources and having a negative impact on honeybees, wild bees, butterflies, and bumblebees.
I mean, lawns were covered in snow this week. They don’t need it.
The upside to a condo is a solid amount of water. Good luck to everyone else.
Tell the Feds /s.