montreal turns off decorative fountains as water system repairs intensify

in an effort to save water, the city of montreal has shut off non-recirculating decorative fountains as it carries out emergency work on the water system.montrealers and city boroughs have been asked to reduce their water consumption due to advanced deterioration of one of the city’s key water mains. an inspection revealed a 48-inch pipe that feeds the mctavish reservoir is in critical condition. the pipe, under atwater ave. between sherbrooke st. downtown and workman st. in st-henri, is one of four that feed the reservoir, which is one of the main drinking water basins for the city.the city issued its directive to save water late last month. the borough of outremont turned off its fountains early last week, with rosemont—la petite-patrie and villeray—st-michel—parc-extension following suit on monday and st-léonard on tuesday. verdun and st-laurent’s decorative fountains were not yet turned on, and the boroughs say they will remain off until further notice.montreal mayor soraya martinez ferrada asserted in an executive committee meeting on wednesday that decreasing water use is important and montrealers have a collective responsibility to do so. as an example, she suggested residents hold back on watering plants daily.the work is underway and will continue to intensify, city councillor claude pinard said at the executive committee meeting.

water consumption unchanged

according to alan desousa, the city councillor in charge of water infrastructure, montreal’s water consumption has held steady at around 1.1 to 1.2 billion litres per day since the city issued its directive last month. he said the current levels are similar to levels before the announcement was made.ideally, usage won’t reach the limit of 1.4 billion litres per day in order to maintain supply during the water main upgrade. desousa said consumption levels haven't come close to that mark.given the expected intensification of water use with the warm weather, desousa said the unchanged levels are a good sign. he said hotter weather is normally accompanied by a spike in water use with filling pools, turning on fountains and watering plants.

westmount follows suit

the city of westmount is similarly calling upon its residents and businesses to cut back water use.“the city of westmount is aligning with (montreal’s) directives to support the regional effort to reduce peak drinking water demand and relieve pressure on the water supply system while the mctavish supply corridor is operating with reduced redundancy,” westmount wrote in an announcement on wednesday.westmount is implementing its own water-saving measures, including:

• limits on watering.
• emergency water main repairs being prioritized as needed.
• suspending preventive sewer flushing.
• co-ordinating operating schedules of city water parks, including westmount, stayner and prince albert parks.
• shutting down decorative fountains.
• suspending the continuous filling of the king george park pond and the refilling of the westmount park pond.

with files from the gazette's rené bruemmer.