Water bills was a topic for discussion at last night's city council, after a letter of complaint was sent to the city.

Weyburn has lower rates than many other locations as Weyburn has its own water resource, Nickel Lake.

"The use of potable water for lawn watering is not the best use of money, no matter who's paying for it," says Roy Hardy, City Manager. "I would suggest water conservation measures are important that as a city we should be looking at and certainly supporting."

The use of treated, drinkable water for lawns and gardens is just one of the contributing factors.

October is generally a "catch up" month as many of the previous summer bills were simply estimated use. With the introduction of the new water meters, citizens can track their water use accurately and keep that in mind when using water.

"In 2016, we had water restrictions in the city of Weyburn with summer rates, but in 2017 we had no water restrictions and deleted summer rates, that's probably some of the confusion or some of the off or different numbers that we are seeing today," says Councillor Dick Michel.

Summer rates were introduced as water used for outside watering would not put a burden on Weyburn's sewage or drainage system as the water would be soaked into the ground.

City councillors have suggested using water barrels or rain collectors to water their gardens and lawns.

City council was fairly split in their thinking with some wishing summer rates to the brought back.

The topic will be carried forward so that more discussion and opinions can be heard.