Penticton’s lakes don’t have a tap

I once read an article that stated that Los Vegas had a bylaw in their building code that only allowed for a small portion of any new yard to have a lawn. This was based on a per centage of yard up to a maximum square footage.

All the rest had to be xerascaped. Once a number of buildings were out there then neighbours started to redo their yards in a similar fashion and a snowball affect was started.

A number of years ago, I was discussing this with an employee in the planning department of City of Penticton. I was surprised with the answer of “I like lawns.”

Well, I like lawns too, but we live in a semiarid area with a rapidly growing population and only a limited water supply. The entire valley needs to wake up to this reality and set some regulations in place long before it becomes an emergency. Okanagan Lake looks big, but so did Lake Mead in Arizona.

My observations show that grass in front yards rarely gets used and is just for show. I also see many cedar trees and hedgerows that are not native to our climate and need lots of water to survive.

I am sure that Penticton could be a leader in setting up guidelines in this area. Let’s be ahead of the curve in this area — proactive, not reactive.

My regulation would start like this:

1. All new builds and major renovation projects to xerascape the yard and have a maximum of 200 square feet of lawn.

2. Residential water use costs to increase once a certain volume is used.

3. All interior taps to have water restrictions in place.

4. The learned people at city hall can finish this list and come up with a good bylaw that will cut down on our water use and set an example for other communities to follow.

This may also delay the timing of our water plant expansion.

Doug Maxwell Penticton