Roger Snook, mayor of Sunnyside, N.L., said the taps went dry on Saturday, after the town’s water reservoir ran empty during a summer of abnormally dry conditions and stretches of searing heat. He and four other volunteers worked all day Sunday to pump water from a pond back into the reservoir to get the town’s taps running again.

“This is the first time in Sunnyside history that this has ever happened,” the mayor said in an interview. “Mother Nature is playing with us at her best.”

Other towns in eastern Newfoundland have advised residents to stop using water for non-essential reasons such as washing their cars. Last week in Bonavista, the town council outright banned such use.

“This is not a precaution — it’s a necessity,” town officials said in a social media post on Aug. 13. “If water usage does not decrease immediately, there is a high potential that all community water services will be temporarily shut off to conserve our remaining supply.”