This one will catch people out before summer if it isn't surfaced, Calgary's outdoor watering schedule is now permanent, and it's split by your house number.

Quick check, what's my day?

The full schedule

Last digit of your address	Watering days	Allowed times
Even (0, 2, 4, 6, 8)	Tuesday · Thursday · Saturday	12 a.m.–10 a.m. and 7 p.m.–11:59 p.m.
Odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)	Wednesday · Friday · Sunday	12 a.m.–10 a.m. and 7 p.m.–11:59 p.m.

If you live in an attached complex sharing an irrigation system, use the lowest house number in the complex to pick your day. Apartments and condos use the building's street number, not the unit.

What's still allowed any time

• Letting kids run through the sprinkler
• Filling pools, hot tubs, and fountains
• Washing windows and pressure-washing decks, fences, siding
• Watering with a watering can, or a hose with a spring-loaded nozzle
• Watering food gardens
• Watering newly planted trees, shrubs, sod, and seed

So a herb bed or a freshly laid patch of sod isn't on the schedule, only general lawn watering is.

Why now

Outdoor use accounts for up to 40% more water on hot summer days than a typical winter day. The schedule is the City's lever to flatten the peak across the week so treatment plants, pumps, and reservoirs aren't slammed at the same hour every evening.

What our councillor pushed for

At the April 28 Council meeting, Councillor Pantazopoulos proposed amendments that passed:

• Voluntary measures get tried first before the City applies restrictions
• Clear rationale required when restrictions are imposed
• Regular reporting back to Council on how those powers are being used

His separate motion to remove the schedule from the bylaw entirely and make it voluntary did not pass.

Full details

Calgary.ca: Water Efficiency Strategy.

The bylaw is in effect now. Worth telling neighbours, especially anyone who runs irrigation overnight on a fixed schedule, that schedule may need an update.