Metro Vancouver warns of low snowpack as it announces water restrictions
Metro Vancouver will tighten up its lawn watering restrictions in the next few weeks.
From May 1 to October 15, the region will restrict residents and businesses to watering their lawns just once per week, to help the region conserve water over the summer months.
On average, Metro Vancouver’s demand for water is one billion litres a day. But in summer months, that increases to 1.5 billion litres, with lawn watering the main culprit.
Mike Hurley, chair of Metro Vancouver’s board of directors, noted that the region’s snowpack levels are low.
“We’ve had a warm winter in Metro Vancouver and the snowpack, which helps boost our water supply as it melts through the spring and early summer, is below normal for this time of year,” he said in a release. “It’s more important than ever to limit unnecessary water use by watering just once a week.”
According to B.C. River Forecast Centre’s snow survey and water supply bulletin published on March 1, the South Coast snowpack was at 61 per cent of normal and 77 per cent of normal in the Lower Fraser, the two basins Metro Vancouver sits in.
Snowpack is important for a number of things, including acting as water storage. Instead of rain, which immediately washes through the system, it stays up in the mountains, delaying the release of that water into the spring and summer.
“When you don’t have as much snowpack, then you don’t necessarily have as much storage for the later season,” said Jonathan Boyd, a hydrologist with the River Forecast Centre, in an interview with Daily Hive earlier this year.
However, the April 1 snowpack is considered the gold standard for the amount of snowpack in a given year, and that report hasn’t been published yet.
What does this mean?
Stage 1 lawn watering restrictions will start on May 1.
During these restrictions, residents and businesses can still water trees, shrubs, and flowers any day, either in the morning using a sprinkler or at any time by hand watering or drip irrigation.
Residents with even-numbered addresses are restricted to watering their lawns only on Saturdays, and odd-numbered addresses can water on Sundays. Automatic watering is allowed between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., and manual watering is allowed between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Edible plants are exempt from the restrictions.
Businesses with even-numbered addresses can water on Mondays and odd-numbered addresses on Tuesdays. Automatic watering is allowed between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., and manual watering is allowed between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.
People can still use forms of recycled water — like grey water or rainwater — to water their lawns.
“When the weather warms and demand is highest, we must conserve water for essential needs like drinking, cooking, and cleaning, as well as environmental flows to sustain fish populations,” said Brad West, chair of Metro Vancouver’s water committee, in a release.
These restrictions will be in place until October 15. Read more.
Metro Vancouver added that these water restrictions will support the region’s work to construct the Stanley Park Water Supply Tunnel, as the First Narrows Crossing (a key water supply pipe) has been out of service since last fall during the construction.