The drought

For the last several months we've heard drought, drought, drought on the news, in daily conversations, everywhere we turn. One of the driest winters on record they say. For the past week, water has been gushing through the sewers at Hamilton woods apartments. When we called to report, we were told they were draining a holding tank. Is it really necessary to drain hundreds of thousands of gallons of water when the general public is being told to cut  comsumption?