News Releases

The City of Saskatoon has a responsibility to conserve water and, along with the community, has identified it as an important measure to reduce greenhouse gases, care for the environment, and lower water utility bills.

The Water Conservation Strategy, which has been in the works for two years and informed by public engagement, encourages conservation through a variety of methods. The report will go before the City’s Environment, Utilities, and Corporate Services Committee on Monday.

“The Strategy is a roadmap of actions to help residents and City operations achieve many benefits from water conservation, like managing water costs, improving resiliency, and limiting environmental impacts”, says Jeanna South, Director of Sustainability. “Some of these actions include reducing peak summer use to ease demand on infrastructure, reducing water used in the City’s own operations to save costs, and showing residents and businesses ways that they can change their water use to reduce their utility bills.”

Water reduction targets were established in the Low Emissions Community Plan to reduce future water infrastructure expansion costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Although per capita water use in Saskatoon has been on a downward trend as residents have realized the benefits of conservation, recent data shows more efforts in all parts of the community and in the City’s own operations are necessary. 

“The intent of this strategy is to prioritize the initiatives, develop programs based on priorities, implement those initiatives as funding becomes available, and monitor progress and refine assumptions to keep the Water Conservation Strategy current,” says South.

Some water conservation initiatives underway include improving City water use in parks and other areas of operations, residential water use education, and the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) building energy and efficiency retrofit program.

For more information, please visit saskatoon.ca/waterconservation.

The City of Saskatoon has a responsibility to conserve water and, along with the community, has identified it as an important measure to reduce greenhouse gases, care for the environment, and lower water utility bills.

The Water Conservation Strategy, which has been in the works for two years and informed by public engagement, encourages conservation through a variety of methods. The report will go before the City’s Environment, Utilities, and Corporate Services Committee on Monday.

“The Strategy is a roadmap of actions to help residents and City operations achieve many benefits from water conservation, like managing water costs, improving resiliency, and limiting environmental impacts”, says Jeanna South, Director of Sustainability. “Some of these actions include reducing peak summer use to ease demand on infrastructure, reducing water used in the City’s own operations to save costs, and showing residents and businesses ways that they can change their water use to reduce their utility bills.”

Water reduction targets were established in the Low Emissions Community Plan to reduce future water infrastructure expansion costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Although per capita water use in Saskatoon has been on a downward trend as residents have realized the benefits of conservation, recent data shows more efforts in all parts of the community and in the City’s own operations are necessary. 

“The intent of this strategy is to prioritize the initiatives, develop programs based on priorities, implement those initiatives as funding becomes available, and monitor progress and refine assumptions to keep the Water Conservation Strategy current,” says South.

Some water conservation initiatives underway include improving City water use in parks and other areas of operations, residential water use education, and the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) building energy and efficiency retrofit program.

For more information, please visit saskatoon.ca/waterconservation.

A Vancouver-based developer has approached the City with a proposal to open a full-service grocery store, with a restaurant, and take-out at the Midtown Plaza. The Standing Policy Committee on Transportation will consider the request from Arbutus Properties when the committee meets on Monday, May 2, 2022.

The grocery store is proposed for the space in Midtown Plaza that was initially developed for another business but has remained vacant.

The Administration report recommends installing a full traffic signal at the intersection of Auditorium Avenue and Idylwyld Drive, removing the median on Idylwyld Drive between Auditorium Avenue and 22nd Street, and installing a traffic island at the intersection of 21st Street and Idylwyld Drive. These changes were all previously identified in the Imagine Idylwyld project plan.

The report recommends that the City completes these changes once the grocery store reaches a certain build-out point. The cost of the infrastructure changes is $220 thousand.

A requested tax abatement for the grocery store is not recommended, as the available space at Midtown Plaza has already been approved for a tax abatement.

If approved, the next steps will be in the developer’s hands.