District of Lunenburg launches water program after summer dry spell

After a dry summer, the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg is providing drinking water to residents with dry wells through a coupon program and refill stations.

The South Shore municipality is launching the coupon program on Monday. Residents with dry wells can pick up coupons at the municipal office or request coupons by email, and exchange them at local retailers for one4-litre bottle of water per person, perday, up to a maximum of four bottles per day, per household.

The program is also open to residents of Big Tancook Island and Little Tancook Island. Those people can pick up coupons from the Municipality of the District of Chester.

The coupons can be used at:

• Sam's No Frills in Bridgewater.
• Francis' Your Independent Grocer in Lunenburg.
• Nick's Your Independent Grocer in Mahone Bay.
• Freshmart in New Germany.

The program will be re-evaluated as precipitation changes, according to a news release.

Earlier this month, the province announced it would open some campgrounds in southwestern Nova Scotia to residents experiencing water woes because of the drought.

The municipalitypoints to those campgrounds as possible refill stations and locations for showering. The Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre and the Lunenburg Board of Trade Campground are also available for those purposes.

The municipality saidit has created a dry well survey to help officials understand the extent of the impact of this summer's dry weather, and to help plan for any future droughts.

The survey will be made available to anyone who requests coupons through the program.