Hot, dry spring means water restrictions in summer, fall
If situation worsens, Metro lawn sprinkling could be prohibited
A hot, dry spring means Metro Vancouver residents are already using more water for their lawns, gardens and other outdoor chores than in past years, putting pressure on reservoirs and potentially setting the stage for more water restrictions this summer or fall.
Water use across the region rose to about 33.5 billion litres in May, about 15 per cent higher than the same period last year, according to Inder Singh, Metro’s director of policy, planning and analysis. Such levels aren’t typically seen until the peak summer months, prompting Metro Vancouver to start an advertising campaign to encourage the public to be more frugal with their water use. It would take two billion litres of water to fill an area the size of BC Place Stadium.
“It’s definitely hotter and drier than usual. We’re already essentially a month into the summer season,” Singh said. “We’re emphasizing (to the public) that it’s an unusual situation and we should be vigilant on the current regulations.”
Metro residents are already facing water restrictions, which came into effect June 1, that allow them to water their lawns only three times a week, and only early in the morning.
But if the situation worsens, lawn-sprinkling across the region could be reduced to once a week — or even prohibited altogether during the summer — according to Metro’s water shortage response plan.
In 2003, Metro instituted a region-wide sprinkling ban in early August as a result of low water storage levels in its reservoirs and unusually warm and dry weather.
The situation this year is compounded by the increasing growth in the region. A Metro report noted that while the per capita use of water in Metro Vancouver has been dropping over the years, the overall population increase means that use is still up, mainly in suburban areas across the region.
North Vancouver District Mayor Darrell Mussatto, chairman of the region’s utilities committee, said the situation isn’t critical at this point, noting the region’s Capilano and Seymour reservoirs are at 90 per cent right now, while its three high alpine lakes are full. The regional district has also signed a new deal with BC Hydro, which owns the Coquitlam reservoir, to buy an additional 68.2 billion litres of water, which would cost $862,000, if needed to top up the water supply.
In 2014, Metro asked BC Hydro to set aside 50 billion litres, worth $630,000, because it was predicted to be a hot summer, and ended up using 33 billion litres. But Mussatto warns that if this year’s hot, dry weather continues without any heavy rainfall, there could be further water restrictions to ensure the reservoirs don’t run dry later.
“We’ve had a pretty long dry spell so far,” Mussatto said. “It’s not critical but we certainly do need rainfall in July or August, because that’s the main way our reservoirs are filled.”
On its website, the Rivers Forecast Centre noted May was drier than usual, with precipitation “largely in the form of convective rainfall and thundershowers. This included episodes of intense, short-duration rainfall (such as in Cache Creek), but organized, persistent wet patterns were lacking through the month.” As a result, there was an earlier-than-usual spring runoff, the centre added, and there is no snowpack left in the South Coast Mountains.
“The snowpack is gone and it cannot be relied upon,” Singh said. “The only source is rainfall, which we’re hoping will take some of the pressure off.”
However, while Environment Canada is calling for a 30 to 40 per cent chance of rain in Metro Vancouver on Thursday and Friday, temperatures are slated to remain in the high 20s through to next week.
Singh said there is no fixed formula as to when further regulations will be imposed. Metro Vancouver will continue to monitor the reservoirs and water supply levels throughout the summer, he said, while trying to keep demand as low as possible. He noted that although the reservoirs will eventually start to deplete, the decision for further restrictions is not based on the water elevations in just one lake, but how the system is being managed overall.
“It’s a wait-and-see type of game from our perspective,” he said. “We’re going to constantly keep monitoring it. We don’t want to pull the trigger too early but we don’t want to get to the point where we can’t recover.”
But Singh noted once the system goes beyond the second stage of restrictions, which would only allow watering once a week, they can become prohibitively more imposing. In vegetable gardens for instance, residents would be asked to water by hand using a spring-loaded shutoff nozzle, or using containers or drip irrigation, while in other cases, such as watering lawns or refilling private pools, “all forms of watering using treated drinking water are prohibited.”
The Metro Vancouver water district sells water to the region’s municipalities, but use varies across the system, depending not just on growth, but on how the cities are affected by the hot and dry conditions. No numbers were available for last year, but in May 2013, Vancouver was the largest water user, buying 109.7 billion litres, followed by Surrey with 66.7 billion litres.
The Corp. of Delta and District of North Vancouver were also among the highest water users.