The Globe and Mail reports that, “The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise taps into (Lake Louise) for everything from supplying its laundry room and watering its gardens to ensuring the ice buckets are filled.”
“(Records show) that water distribution system has lost almost 510,000 cubic metres of water – the equivalent of 33,630 tanker trucks or 204 Olympic-sized swimming pools – pulled from the (UNESCO World Heritage Site) lake since 2003…”
Photo: Brent Patterson canoeing on Lake Louise.
“That’s almost as much water as Ottawa allows the hotel to draw each year (525,653 cubic metres) from the postcard-perfect lake that thrives on glacial runoff (from the Victoria Glacier above it, which is declining in part due to climate change) in Canada’s oldest national park.”
“While experts say even well-run water systems have an 8- to 12-per-cent loss or leakage rate, average annual losses at the hotel ranged from 6.9 per cent to 33.4 per cent. There has been an average annual loss of 21 per cent between 2003 and today.”
“Chris Huston, leader of asset operation for water services for the city of Calgary (says) it could be as simple as inaccurate meters. (Water that is produced, but not clocked by consumption meters, is not paid for.) The system could be over-pressured, which is pushing water through leaks faster. Theft can also be a factor. But in most cases, he explained, leaks are to blame.”
“Parks Canada has been directed to get to the bottom of it.”
The fuller story can be read at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-mystery-of-lake-louises-missing-water/article1283014/?.
