Metro Vancouver residents continue to water lawns despite Stage 2 restrictions, district says

You should be suspicious if your neighbour’s lawn is emerald green right now. It should be brown and crispy dry as Metro Vancouver remains under strict Stage 2 water restrictions, which means you can’t water your lawn.

The region’s reservoir levels are at 59 per cent currently, which is considered normal but they continue to be drained by people breaking the rules and the lack of rain in the forecast.

Usage during the peak of summer was more than 1.5 billion litres of water every day in August dipped a bit to 1.3 billion litres due to cooler temperatures and a bit of rain, but nothing significant enough to make a difference.

“We know that extra 50 per cent is driven predominantly by outdoor use,” explained Linda Parkinson, Metro Vancouver’s Water Services Director of Policy Planning and Analysis. “We know it’s lawn watering and watering of boulevards and sports fields and plants.”

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She tells CityNews the agency is able to see peaks in outdoor usage on Wednesdays and early on weekend mornings, likely due to automated watering systems people have not turned off.

“In August we continue to see those peaks. They were slightly reduced, but not as much as we’d expect if everyone was complying with the lawn watering ban,” Parkinson said.

Thanks to a very dry May, June and the first half of July, water demand was way up compared to last year, and that was a key factor in the district implementing stage 2 restrictions on Aug. 4.

Stage 2 restrictions, which are set to be lifted on Oct. 15, include a total ban on lawn watering. Trees, shrubs, and flowers can be watered by hand or using soaker hoses or drip irrigation at any time, or by using a sprinkler between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. any day. Vegetable gardens can be watered at any time.

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Parkinson says the water Metro Vancouver sells to 20 municipalities across the region is used by a range of different sectors. She says it doesn’t have a breakdown of personal use — that’s up to each city to track.

“Right now, we’re not looking at Stage 3 restrictions. They have an impact on local businesses. They are a lot more restrictive, in terms of, water use for things like vehicle washing, commercial car washing, window washing, and we do think there is more we can get out of Stage 2,” she said.

“The soil is so dry, that when it rains the soil is absorbing all of the rain and it’s not making its way into the reservoirs.”

Another concern, Parkinson says, is complacency. With fall approaching, she says now is not the time to ease up on the rules, given the forecast for the next couple of months indicating the dry conditions will continue.

“We do need people to be cognizant that we’re relying on the reservoirs until the rain comes back and the rain we’ve had thus far has not been significant enough to change the reservoir levels. The soil is so dry that when it rains the soil is absorbing all of the rain and it’s not making its way into the reservoirs,” she said.

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She has this final message about people who keep breaking the rules: “Chill out, your lawn will come back. Your lawn is heartier than you think, and it will bounce back.”

Parkinson says with climate change making summer drought in B.C. the new norm, any water-saving habits you’re picking up now should remain in place year-round. This includes taking shorter showers, which the region recommends being at a maximum of three to five minutes.