Kimberley’s 2024 Drinking Water Report shows the community’s water demand has decreased by one per cent, despite population growth.
Mayor Don McCormick says this is thanks to residents taking conservation seriously.
“We don’t necessarily have a shortage of water in Kimberley, but I think we need to treat it as a scarce resource. That means prudent use of our water supply,” said McCormick.
“The City is now on stage 2 water restrictions, and we are really hoping it’s an education piece for folks.”
In 2024, Kimberley’s estimated population was 9,018, with a total water consumption amount of 3,506,572 cubic metres.
While residents are doing their part in saving water, Kimberley’s per capita water use is over 1,000 litres per day, much higher than the provincial average of about 465 litres.
McCormick says this is not the result of negligent water use, but rather, the report shows that a significant amount of Kimberley’s water consumption is due to leaks and breaks.
“This is due to the old infrastructure we have. About 40 per cent of the water consumption in Kimberley is due to leakage in our water system,” said McCormick.
“This is why our infrastructure renewal program is so important. As people see these projects underway, we’re replacing all of the old pipes in the ground and ensuring leakage doesn’t waste our valuable resource.”
McCormick encourages residents to keep up with conservation efforts, even though Kimberley has a stable supply.
“We are in really good shape with respect to water, but we need to exercise conservation efforts from user groups and get our infrastructure renewed as quickly as we can,” said McCormick.
According to the report, the City maintains 122,623 metres of water mains throughout the community, and McCormick says the Public Works crew is focused on fixing and maintaining those lines.
“We have increased our capacity for detecting where the major leaks are. We’re using a combination of software and other tools to find the leakiest spots and prioritizing those in our Five-Year Plan,” said McCormick.
“We’re being a little more targeted, finding the highest risk areas and getting those fixed first, and I think staff is doing a really great job with that.”
McCormick says the city’s efforts have been paying off.
“In the wintertime, when it gets really cold, we used to have huge amounts of water main breaks. The frequency of those has gone down considerably in recent years,” said McCormick.
“As we prioritize those high-risk areas, the service level we’re providing to residents is also increasing.”
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