With ongoing drought conditions and a warm, dry spring, the City of West Kelowna has implemented stage two water restrictions.
The restrictions, which are typically reserved for the middle of the summer, went into effect on Wednesday.
The restrictions require all customers to immediately reduce their outdoor water use by 30%.
During this week’s regular council meeting, Allen Fillion, the city’s director of engineering and operations, told council that maintaining a “robust” water supply was important but was challenging due to two consecutive years of drought.
“If we have the ability to fill our reservoirs, then that puts us in good shape to get through the summer and into the fall,” he said.
“However, the big challenge that we’re seeing right now is that we are not going to refill our reservoirs this year (...) just too low of a snowpack and an early start to the season.”
According to the province's latest snowpack levels, which were released on April 10 and represent data taken on April 1, the Okanagan basin was sitting at 73% of normal levels. The next snowpack numbers are set to be released on May 9.
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He said that with the ongoing drought conditions and low snowpack levels, implementing restrictions might help avoid problems later in the season.
“Our team is very actively involved in water supply and management and our last readings in the watershed at the end of last month, we were at 77% snowpacks, 77% snow water equivalent,” Fillion told council.
“So, we’re actually in better shape than a lot of the province but still concerning numbers so, really, we want to get ahead of the curve.”
A news release from the city says this means even-addressed properties can irrigate on Saturdays and Tuesdays, and odd-addressed properties can irrigate on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Automated sprinkler systems are only allowed to irrigate between midnight and 6 am on permitted days.
Manual systems are only allowed to operate between midnight and 11 am or between 6 pm and midnight on permitted days.
“Sprinkling is never permitted between 11 am and 6 pm,” said a news release from the city.
“General rules allow hand watering of all landscape plant materials and vegetable plantings, excluding lawns.”
The city said if the drought and high water usage continue, the city may have to implement stricter rules.
Stage 3 would permit watering once weekly and prohibit filling pools, hot tubs, fountains, and ponds or washing vehicles, sidewalks and driveways.
Stage 4 would prohibit all outdoor watering to ensure prioritized availability for firefighting and essential daily indoor domestic needs.
For more information on watering restrictions in West Kelowna feel free to visit this link.
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