Vancouver park board commissioner concerned about fountains running during drought

As Vancouver continues to experience drought, prompting warnings from the regional district over water consumption, the lone Green party member of the city’s park board continues to question why some fountains in the city have been turned back on after years of laying dry.

Tom Digby says the fountains that were given exemptions from a city bylaw that requires all fixtures to recirculate water are wasteful now that they’ve been switched back on.

“I’m opposed to it because each of these fountains wastes at least one million litres of water a year during the summer season and I think it’s unnecessary,” he told CityNews.

Tom Digby is the lone member of the Green Party on the Vancouver Park Board (CityNews Image)

In the spring, the Vancouver Park Board asked council to exempt five fixtures in the city from the bylaw so they could be turned back on. The fountains are located at Haro and Bute streets, Helmcken Plaza, Barclay Heritage Square, Laurel Street Land Bridge, and at Pacific and Beach streets.

As part of the approved motion, the fixtures can be turned on and will be prioritized for retrofitting so they become recirculating fountains in the coming years. The city has $2 million set aside for repairs and retrofits.

The push was led by ABC Vancouver members on council and the park board, where there is a party majority on both.

Peter Meiszner, an ABC councillor, says the decision was made because people in the neighbourhoods near the fixtures were calling for the fountains to be turned back on.

“This hasn’t been prioritized in the past by the park board,” he told CityNews. “We wanted to do what we can to have these fountains back on, at least for the summer.”

Peter Meiszner, an ABC Vancouver city councillor. (ABC Vancouver0-

The councillor says there are seniors who live near some of the fixtures who have said they enjoy having the ambience of the running water to sit near in the summer months.

Meiszner says he hopes the retrofitting of the fountains to recirculate water happens soon, and acknowledges the city’s position when it comes to water consumption.

“It’s really about balancing the water consumption with community wellbeing. So that’s something that we heard throughout the process,” he explained. “I don’t want to see us wasting water in a drought.”

Digby, however, thinks there could have been some sort of middle ground in bringing water back to the fountains.

“These fountains could easily be converted into trickle fountains which would have an equal aesthetic effect,” he said. “That could be another way you could reactivate these fountains without wasting a million litres of water every summer.”

Read More: 

• Rain brings some relief to Metro Vancouver

• Metro Vancouver water consumption still high despite conservation requests

Last week, the Metro Vancouver Regional District issued an advisory saying water consumption during the first week of July was 20 per cent higher than the same time in 2022. While reservoir levels are still normal for this time of year, the district says if the current rate of consumption continues, further watering restrictions may be needed.

Despite rain falling in the region for the first time in weeks Monday and Tuesday, the district says it won’t do much to alleviate the effects of drought.

“The rain that fell this week was not enough to have a significant impact on reservoir levels, so reducing outdoor water use remains key,” the district said in an email to CityNews Tuesday.

As part of the council motion that passed in June, the exempted fountains will be turned off if the region moves to Stage 2 watering restrictions.

According to the district, the average Metro Vancouverite uses roughly 270 litres of water per day, with the region using over a billion litres daily.

With files from Charlie Carey