New Brunswickers look to Mother Nature as province gets thirstier

CBC

15 hours ago

Residents around New Brunswick are looking to the sky for help as the province gets drier and drier.
Memramcook resident Alain Clavette joked about dancing naked in his yard with a tambourine to summon the rain as a system of rain clouds missed his area last week.
His well has gone dry and he has to drive 30 minutes with a trunk full of containers just to get water for his chickens.
"I walk around and [the ground] crunches under my feet," he said.
He said his neighbour, who is a farmer, is experiencing the same thing. Clavette has seen him truck totes full of water.
Clavette recalled the last time it was extremely dry in his area over 20 years ago. "It was the same thing," he said. "We have [cloud] systems going by and just missing us."
He said he is considering installing underground tanks to harvest rainwater. He feels less confident about the future in the face of climate change.
"I don't want to sound doom and gloom, but I think this is just a practice, a dry run for what's coming."
Fundy Albert Mayor Jim Campbell said his municipality is also concerned about the dry conditions. The tourist season increases the area's population and the need for water grows.
Last week, Fundy Albert along with other municipalities across the province like Memramcook, Eastern Charlotte and Tracadie, asked residents to limit water consumption.
The Village of Memramcook is even offering free showers twice a week until the end of August at their arena.
"We have to be extremely cautious," said Campbell. "The ground is really, really dry."
He said people should avoid washing their cars and watering their gardens or flowers. Dishwashers and laundry machines should be fully loaded before turning them on, he advised.
"It's pretty hard to enforce," he said. "We have to ask for some common sense and goodwill among men and women."
He said water consumption is down a bit "so that shows that people are trying."
Campbell said his area needs almost a week of steady rain to replenish the water supply.
There are showers and thundershowers in the forecast for parts of New Brunswick overnight, but little precipitation for the rest of the week.