‘Water supply has diminished': Dry weather and the call to conserve in Halifax
The utility said due to a long period of dry weather, the water levels are only expected to get worse in the coming days.
'Due to prolonged dry weather experience in Nova Scotia, the Halifax water supply has diminished,' said Brittany Smith, Halifax Water senior communications advisor.
'We are almost entering our watch level where it's prompted us to put out voluntary conservation measures.'
A longtime Sullivans Pond visitor said the state of the water at the popular Dartmouth Park is getting worse by the day, as residents notice bodies of water within the communities looking much lower than usual.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
'So what you're see is about 50 per cent covered now with water than what is normally covered with water,' said Rick Gautreau, a Dartmouth resident. 'It's exponentially worse for two reasons. One, the water levels are lower but the second one is the water is hotter. It is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.'
Story continues below advertisement
The former president of the Sackville Rivers Association says he's concerned for the waterways in his area as well.
'Unfortunately, the river is at least two feet lower than normal,' said Walter Regan. 'This is a bad drought. But if it keeps going up, we have no water. No real significant long-term moisture to add to the river.'
Meanwhile, Sean McMullen, who has cleaned the Sackville River for years, said he has never seen it this bad.
'When I'm usually getting into this river, it's pretty clear. There's a nice flow to it. There's lots of fish, snapping turns, stuff like that. I'm not really seeing any of that today.' McMullen told Global News dressed in a wet suit.
Halifax Water said if the weather conditions stay the same, they make take extra measures such as mandatory restrictions on water.
It has been a week since the Halifax-area has seen any significant rainfall and the forecast continues to show sunny days ahead.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
23 minutes ago
- Global News
Southern Alberta farm devastated by hailstorm, loses beloved camel
A well-known Southern Alberta farm lost two animals and is facing more than $60,000 in damages after a severe thunderstorm ripped through the property near Brooks Wednesday evening. 'Around 4:30p.m. I was working in my shop… there was a weather alert that came on the phone and when I came out the back of the shop, the storm was literally 100 yards off the gravel road. A white hail wall,' recalled Denis Jackson, owner of the White Barn Fun Farm. He says he immediately thought his farm was about to be destroyed. 'It was just coming, there was no stopping it.' 'I had basically five minutes to grab whatever I could that was going to blow away. The bigger animals we have were in this corral beside the barn. The wind and rain were coming and the hail – golf ball and loonie, toonie-size hail had hit.' Story continues below advertisement In that corral he had a horse, a pony, three donkeys and a camel. 'I yelled at them to stay there and hoped for the best. I ran to the house getting beat down by the hail.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy As he ran he said he heard breaking glass. 'It took out all the windows in the top west side of the house,' Jackson said. View image in full screen Windows shattered at the White Barn Fun Farm near Brooks, AB. Drew Stremick / Global News The storm also ruined farm equipment, broke fencing and snapped 100-year-old trees, ripping their roots from the ground. 'It levelled everything here.' In the chaos, he said some animals tried to run in search of better shelter, including his five-year-old, 2000 lb. camel Stolli as well as a nine-year-old pony named Butterscotch. Story continues below advertisement Jackson said Stolli was a visitor favourite at the farm, who often gave children rides. The camel was recently at Stampede. Stolli was a Bactrian camel. Credit: White Barn Fun Farm He got hit by falling trees, badly breaking his leg. After speaking to numerous vets, Jackson made the difficult decision to euthanize him. 'It's tough, he's part of the family. Not everybody owns a camel,' he said. 'It's very heartbreaking.' Jackson thinks it will take a few weeks to clean up all the mess. Though they're usually open until the end of September, or early October, 'as far as White Barn Fun Farm goes, we're pretty much done [for the season].' Story continues below advertisement –with files from Drew Stremick, Global News.
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Hurricane Erin: Storm won't make landfall in N.S., but will bring very high waves
While Hurricane Erin is not expected to come close to land in the Maritimes, it is still likely to play havoc on both land and sea in Nova Scotia. Global News meteorologist Ross Hull said that the hurricane's effects will be felt in the area on Friday. 'Even though Erin is moving well to the south of the area, it is such a large storm that some impacts will be felt mainly from large ocean swells, rough surf, as well as rip currents for the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia,' Hull explained. 'There is the potential for waves to reach 4 to 5 metres especially over southwestern parts of Nova Scotia.' He said that winds are also expected to be stronger along the coastline. 'Some gusty winds up to 70 km/h could also reach the coastline in the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia on Friday,' Hull offered. Story continues below advertisement Fire crews are racing against the clock to prepare for the hurricane's effects as they continue battling a large wildfire raging in Annapolis Valley. 'The winds won't be as strong more inland where the Long Lake wildfire is in Annapolis County,' Hull said. 'However, winds will be picking up out of the northeast initially with some gusts 40 to 50 km/h. Then after the storm passes to the south, a change in wind direction, becoming a west/northwest wind but easing in intensity on Saturday.' He added, 'the gusty winds along with the changing wind direction could pose some challenges to firefighters.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Winds of 50 km/h will certainly cause the fire to 'move or spread,' Jim Rutterham, director of fleet and forest protection, told reporters on Thursday. 'We are expecting wind tomorrow. It's like how much rain we're going to get — we're going to have to wait till tomorrow comes,' he said. For the past couple of days, provincial officials have reported that the fire has remained about 3,200 hectares in size but they know Hurricane Erin could be an issue. They have a meteorologist and a fire growth modeler on staff who are keeping a tab on the fire and trying to plot its course. Story continues below advertisement 'They're assessing the fuels — the weather, the topography — and doing their very best to try to map and model what this fire might do given the weather conditions,' Scott Tingley, manager of forest protection, said at a press conference on Wednesday. 'We also have a fire behaviour analyst who's supporting the data collection right at the fire site. 'You know, there are a lot of variables but we've definitely got a very strong team that's working on providing the best intelligence to the team that is managing the fire.' 2:03 Clear-cutting and what role it may have played in wildfire situation There are about 74 homes on the north end of the fire in West Dalhousie which have been evacuated since last Saturday. Those fighting the blaze have been working to prevent the fire from getting at the structures. They have also been doubling down on those efforts with Hurricane Erin fast approaching. Story continues below advertisement 'They've been using heavy equipment to build a fire break or fire guard out around the perimeter on the north side,' Tingley said Thursday. 'So that's meant to remove fuel from out in front of the fire, and they've been suppressing that active perimeter.' It has been forecast that the wind will shift on Sunday which would push the fire in a northerly direction. 'They're focusing on just really trying to make that as cold as they can ahead of these wind shifts in the weekend to mitigate as much as possible any potential spread that could result from the wind shifts,' Tingley offered.
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Highway 1 closed eastbound after damaging storm hits Brooks area
Highway 1 eastbound at highway 36, northwest of Brooks, Alta., remained closed Thursday afternoon due to power line damage in the area. A detour is in place, while westbound traffic is moving through the area very slowly. Global News crews on scene have been told the highway closure will remain in place for much of the afternoon, following a serious thunderstorm Wednesday evening. Altalink crews were first called out to the southern Alberta highway Wednesday night after winds crumpled transmission towers. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy According to Environment Canada, 'a fast-moving supercell tracked across southern Alberta bringing significant, damaging wind gusts and loonie to golf ball sized hail.' There were reports of damage to both property and trees – while Fortis Alberta noted the transmission lines issue resulted in power outages in Newell and Vulcan counties. Story continues below advertisement Multiple collisions in the area were reported to Alberta 511 Wednesday evening. Environment Canada says no tornados have been reported, but wind gusts were recorded as high as 149km/h in Atlee, 127km/h in Lathom and 121 km/h in both Buffalo and Brooks. Environment Canada and Climate Change meteorologists are looking for reports of damage from this thunderstorm, which can be submitted by calling 1-800-239-0484, or emailing storm@
