[ISL] "Charlottetown residents urged to save water amid 'very dry year'"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC News' Shane Ross reports on the terrible risk of water shortages facing Charlottetown.

The City of Charlottetown has lifted its annual summer water restrictions, but the group that monitors the city's water supply is urging residents to think twice before they leave taps running.

"I would still always encourage that people continue to conserve water," said Sarah Wheatley, watershed coordinator for the Winter River-Tracadie Bay Watershed Association.

"Even though it feels like fall, it's a little while yet before the water table actually starts to go up."

An unusually dry summer has put a strain on the water system, she said.

The group has been monitoring the Winter River system for the past four years. There are two springs between the two major wellfields that go dry every year, she said. But in the past week, two springs near the Charlottetown airport have gone dry for the first time since they began monitoring them.