Violations hit high tide
WATERING COMPLAINTS: As Stage 3 restrictions begin, calls reporting misuse flood in
In a record-breaking dry summer, Vancouver City Hall has been flooded with calls from citizens about water violations, receiving 18 times as many calls as last year.
The city’s 311 call centre has received 2,080 complaints about water conservation violations so far in 2015, compared with 116 by this time last year, according to data from the city.
Meanwhile, officials are stepping up education and enforcement efforts to deal with the “very serious” water situation in Metro Vancouver.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday outside Vancouver City Hall, Jerry Dobrovolny, Vancouver’s acting general manager of engineering, said: “Certainly, we are concerned. That’s why Metro has gone to Stage 3. It is very serious.”
Every year on June 1, Metro Vancouver goes to Stage 1 of its Water Shortage Response Plan, Dobrovolny said, adding: “Stage 2 is an indication that this summer is not normal. Stage 3 indicates that we have some serious concerns, as we do today.”
Stage 3 restrictions include bans on sprinkling lawns, filling pools and washing cars and boats.
“As they say, brown is the new green for your lawns,” Dobrovolny said.
Vancouver city staff have issued 1,428 warnings about water use this year and written 30 tickets, with most of those coming in the last two weeks.
The fine for violating lawn-watering restrictions is $250. On Wednesday, a new bylaw will be brought before city council, aiming to “support enforcement efforts” and “expand the breadth of ticketable violations, beyond lawn sprinkling,” according to the council agenda.
Since 1993, when Metro Vancouver put the Water Shortage Response Plan in place, only two years have seen Stage 3 restrictions: in 1997, after a water main under the Port Mann Bridge failed, and in 2003, during an especially dry year.
That dry summer of 2003 was also the last time Metro Vancouver hit Stage 2.
It was on Aug. 22 of that year that Stage 3 restrictions took effect — a full month later than this year.
This week, Metro Vancouver also made a new chart available online showing daily water consumption levels. Over the last five weeks, the graph shows daily consumption has gone up and down, ranging from a high of 1.7 billion litres in a single day to a low of 1.16 billion litres.
The peaks and valleys on the chart are not unusual and can be explained by several factors, said Marilyn Towill of Metro Vancouver water services.
Water use across the region has been lower on average since July 3, when Stage 2 restrictions went into effect, Towill said.
Over the following three weeks, water use rose every Monday and Thursday, the two mornings when residents were allowed to water their lawns.
Generally, water use is higher during hot, sunny weather, lower on cooler days and lowest when it’s raining and these trends are reflected in the Metro Vancouver chart.
On rainy days, Towill said, people are less likely to wash cars, visit water parks or water gardens and lawns.
Metro Vancouver’s reservoir levels were also updated Tuesday, showing they have continued to drop, hitting 69 per cent of capacity, billions of litres below the low end of the comfortable range for this time of year.