As of Aug. 1, 2015, the Foothills Regional Landfill will close its gates if winds reach 70 km/h or higher.

Landfill Manager Joe Angevine says the decision is obviously a safety precaution, and it's not the first time he's seen it happen.

"This was actually a policy I dealt with when I worked with the City of Lethbridge as well out at their landfill," he says. "It made sense to me down there, and it was something I brought up when I moved up here and started working for the M.D. (of Foothills), and this year we've discussed it more in depth, and the commission agreed that the safety risks just aren't worth having the site open when it gets that windy."

Angevine says the landfill has been working to create a database of its account customers, so they can notify them en masse if the landfill does have to shut its gates.

Courtesy the M.D. of Foothills

"We can basically call 200 people immediately through a robo-call system," he says. "It'll have a pre-recorded message that the landfill is currently closed due high wind. Then, we have another call we can put in that basically will notify them if we're re-opening. That's for all our account customers, we've also been handing out leaflets at the scale-house here trying to inform the general public."

Angevine says since there's no way to contact the general public directly, the landfill will keep its webpage and social media updated if there is a closure.

"The key to get to people is that if you're planning to go to the landfill and it's really windy, just check our website, our check our Twitter account, @MDofFoothills," he says. "It'll be updated there before we ever close the site, so if it's not on there, you're probably safe to come out."

More information can also be found on the M.D. of Foothills' Facebook page, or by calling 403-938-5224.