{"id":312420,"date":"2025-11-25T08:42:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T08:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/312420\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T08:42:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T08:42:17","slug":"tiered-water-billing-permanent-outdoor-watering-schedules-could-be-coming-to-calgary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/312420\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiered water billing, permanent outdoor watering schedules could be coming to Calgary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Calgarians could see changes to how they\u2019re charged for water and how often they can water their lawns as the city looks to update its water efficiency plan.<\/p>\n

The plan was first created in 2005 as a long-term guide for keeping Calgary\u2019s water systems reliable. But as drought becomes a bigger issue across the province and Calgary\u2019s population continues to grow, the city says it\u2019s time for an update.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to keep our foot on the gas now as our overall efficiency has plateaued and our total water use has started to inch up,\u201d said Rehana Rajabali, the city\u2019s leader of environmental planning and policy.<\/p>\n

As part of its work to update the plan, the city is exploring a number of changes, from expanding programs to reduce water loss caused by leaks to replacing old water meters with better technology.<\/p>\n

Calgarians have until Dec. 7 to provide their input online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tiered water billing<\/p>\n

One of the bigger changes being proposed is a shift in how Calgarians are billed for water.<\/p>\n

Currently, people pay two types of charges: a service charge and a water usage charge. Rajabali says with the usage charge, households and businesses pay roughly $1.60 per cubic metre of water used.<\/p>\n

The city is exploring moving to a tiered system in which there would be a rate charged for a standard level of usage and a higher charge for anything beyond that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best parallel I can think of is your phone plan. It\u2019s as if your first four gigabytes of data are cheaper, and then your next two gigabytes of data are a little more expensive,\u201d said Rajabali.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know that, you might be more conscious of whether you really need to stream a video versus just listening to the audio version.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Low Bow? No need to worry \u2014 yet:\"\"<\/p>\n

Why the Bow River is lower than usual right now<\/p>\n

The river is running at about half of where it should be for this time of year. But as CBC’s Ted Henley reports, it’s likely too early to worry about spring drought.<\/p>\n

Another option being considered is a shortage surcharge. Calgarians would face additional charges if they use excessive water during droughts or water shortages.<\/p>\n

Outdoor water schedules<\/p>\n

The city is also considering imposing a permanent outdoor water schedule to help conserve water. The practice is already used in Airdrie and Okotoks.<\/p>\n

Under that change, households and businesses would be assigned set days to use sprinklers and other irrigation systems, up to three times a week. People would only be able to water outdoors from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

\"aRehana Rajabali with the City of Calgary says sometimes it takes a shake up, such as the 2023 drought and 2024 feeder main break, to remind us that water efficiency is important. (Monty Kruger\/CBC)<\/p>\n

However, there would be exceptions. Calgarians would be able to hand-water their gardens and water newly-planted trees any day, at any time.<\/p>\n

Plus, the city is “looking for input from Calgarians to help us understand if there\u2019s any activity that should be exempt from this schedule,\u201d said Rajabali.<\/p>\n

Changing habits<\/p>\n

Michelle Anderson, principal investigator in sustainability sciences at SAIT, called the city’s ideas a \u201cfantastic start.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recently participated in research that compared Calgary\u2019s water efficiency planning with other jurisdictions and provided recommendations to the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that not only the city be prepared for any type of water demand changes or any type of water supply change, but also Calgarians. It\u2019s really important that we, as individual users, are able to change our habits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Anderson said some Calgarians may have concerns about changes to billing, especially if they have bigger families and are unable to reduce their water usage. She said it\u2019s important that the city considers people\u2019s feedback when creating new policies.<\/p>\n

Anderson added that strengthening public outreach to educate people on the importance of water usage and conservation would make a big difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-312420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}