Halifax gave out nearly 1 million bottles of water in last summer’s drought: report

Rows of plastic water bottles with blue caps

The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) spent close to $500,000 to give residents water during last summer’s drought, although most of the costs were covered by the provincial government, according to a new council report.

From Aug. 13 to Dec. 15, 2025, the municipality provided four litres of water per person per day for those who could not access well water amid the dry conditions across the province. The municipality distributed the water at seven fire halls, two recreation centres and a Ground Search and Rescue location.

In total, the municipality, relying on volunteers, distributed more than 962,000 bottles of water to more than 9,000 homes last year.

“The summer of 2025 saw large portions of Nova Scotia receive less than 40% of their usual monthly rainfall, which led to parts of the province experiencing severe drought,” reads a report submitted to council on Tuesday. “In the HRM, more severe impacts were felt in rural parts of the municipality. The drought conditions led to dry wells and reservoirs. Many rural residents of the municipality did not have access to potable water.

“This has happened in the Province and HRM before, and during these periods of drought, HRM facilitated the provision of water through water distribution centres in various areas that were impacted.”

Over four months, the municipality bought $364,152 in water to supply its 10 distribution centres. The overall cost of the program was $479,172, according to the report.

Last August, the Nova Scotia government announced a process for municipalities to request reimbursement for bottled water. The report says the province covered $350,628 of its distribution costs, leaving the municipality with a bill of $128,543.

“Non-recovered costs include transportation of water delivery to the 10 locations across the municipality, storage for water at locations, volunteer travel reimbursement costs, and staff overtime that was incurred early on in the program,” the report reads.

Last month, Nova Scotia’s Department of Emergency Management said it won’t be reimbursing municipalities for bottled water again this summer.

“In 2025, the Province of Nova Scotia distributed more than $1,093,000 in funding on a bottled water reimbursement program for municipalities that supplied water to residents whose wells had gone dry,” said Sarah Sibley, communications advisor with the department, in an email.

“Municipalities were reimbursed for the purchases so while we don’t know the total number of bottles, there were 21 municipalities who submitted claims for this program.”

The report notes Halifax staff will conduct a review of the bottled water distribution program to find the most effective approaches for addressing future water shortages.

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