You can't water your lawn in Metro Vancouver this summer
Sorry, Metro Vancouverites, your lawns might be a bit brown this summer.
While the Metro Vancouver Regional District normally allows businesses and residents to water their lawns once per week over the summer (from May 1 to Oct. 15), they recently announced that they will prohibit lawn watering entirely.
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.
Metro Vancouver announced the restrictions, citing the region’s low snowpack and forecasted drought.
The snowpack in Metro Vancouver’s water supply areas is at about 50 per cent of the historical average. Snowpack, built up in the mountains over the winter months, stores water for the region. 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.
Metro Vancouver is also building the Stanley Park Water Supply Tunnel. During this process, it has shut down one of the water system’s main water supply pipes from the Capilano and Seymour reservoirs to allow for the work.
“While the system is well equipped to supply the region for where it’s needed most, if too much water is used during the summer for non-essential purposes, then it could affect water pressure. Reduced water pressure could affect first responders’ ability to use water for emergencies,” reads a release from Metro Vancouver.
Cities are responsible for enforcing these rules. Daily Hive reached out to the City of Vancouver to ask how it plans to enforce the rules this summer, and will update the story when they respond.
What other water restrictions are there?
Aesthetic water features (like fountains) are not to be filled or topped up, and it is prohibited to wash surfaces like driveways and sidewalks.
People can still water trees, shrubs, and flowers by hand, soaker hoses, or drip irrigation at any time, or with a sprinkler between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Watering is still allowed at golf courses and sports fields “to protect these private and public assets.” Metro Vancouver noted that water at these places will be reduced, and many of them use “supplemental water sources or are operating under an approved member jurisdiction water management plan.”
Water play parks cannot operate unless they have user-activated switches.