The head of the Pembina Valley Water Co-op says the water conservation efforts of municipalities and ratepayers are paying off.

CEO Greg Archibald says those efforts have helped to take some pressure off their water plants, and it's much appreciated.

"The individual consumer has taken it to heart and reduced their usage and we appreciate that so much. The partnerships we've had with the municipalities to identify large sources of non-potable water, whether it's in gravel pits or creeks for use by the industrial and ag sector have been absolutely amazing. Even some of the neat programs going on by some of the towns and municipalities with rain barrels has just made a huge difference."

Some of the factors putting pressure on the co-op's water treatment plants include the unusually hot weather in early June, very dry conditions, high demand for water during crop spraying season, and undersized infrastructure at the Letellier water plant. Archibald says there is an adequate supply of water in the Red River and at Stephenfield right now. The real challenge is being able to make enough potable water to meet demand at this time.

The Letellier water plant normally works at maximum capacity during this time of year due to the high demand for water, but Archibald says the current drought situation even has one of their newer water plants stretched to the limit as well.

"The knawing bit of uncomfortableness I have is that our whole system may be changing on us because of the drought and the dryness and the changes in temperature. This time we are talking about the challenges at the Letellier plant, but the reality is our capacity was maxed out at Stephenfield at this time too. We haven't seen that happen in a few years."

While this week's rainfall has helped to take some pressure off the system, Archibald says they will still need ratepayers and municipalities to continue to practice their water conservation efforts for a couple of more weeks.

"You have to keep in mind that we've had a lack of precipitation in southern Manitoba and in North Dakota for the last year, so the soil is very dry. Yes, we received some precipitation but it basically comes down and is quickly absorbed and I think it's still too early to totally assess the impact of the rain we've had."