We are in the midst of a heat wave, there's no doubt about that. But, how close are we to being in a drought?
Sure, your grass is crunchy and brown, but we're not quite at the level of a drought yet.
"The way we define the first threshold, is if there's streamflow, so flows in our rivers and streams that are less than 80% of their seasonally normal flow," says Rehana Rajabali from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. "Taking a look at the data, we're starting to get close in a couple areas, but we haven't reached the threshold, yet."
That being said, even when we do hit that first level of the graduated response, the idea would be to raise awareness that we're seeing low water levels.
Rajabali says it's always a good idea to try and conserve water when you can.
She admits that it's not a quick process to get to the point of a drought.
"It's certainly been a dry couple of weeks, but it takes a slightly longer stretch to see those impacts on our surface water, as well as our ground water.
Most of the catchment for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority relies on lakes for water, but areas into York Region depend on ground water for their supply. Both levels are good, for now.
Still, Rajabali says it's always a good idea to conserve water, whether levels are low or not.