Stage three water restrictions have been imposed on the City of Nanaimo.
“Water conservation is key to ensuring sufficient water is available for emergency fire supply, essential community needs and the ecosystem,” says Mayor Leonard Krog. “Water is critical to our health and vital to our community, let’s all help protect our most precious natural resource.”
This comes as the area is experiencing a level four drought, which means that adverse impacts on people and ecosystems are likely.
“While our reservoirs capturing upper elevation snow melt and precipitation provide a resilient water supply for the City, the record-breaking heatwave has now spurred us into summer drought conditions,” says Mike Squire, Manager of Water Resources. “Residents and businesses are encouraged to reduce outdoor watering to help maintain supply throughout the summer.”
The city’s water supply at Jump Lake is currently at 95-percent full, and although they started to see a lowering water level a month earlier than normal, the city says as of now, they don’t foresee the need for any more severe restrictions.
Stage three restrictions mainly affect new lawns, as they are not allowed to be put in.
Otherwise, the restrictions from stage two are still in place, and they ask you to voluntarily cut back on any other usage.
The city has some tips from the city to reduce outdoor water usage.
Those include reducing lawn irrigation, they say one hour of watering per week is all that a lawn needs to stay healthy. Also avoiding washing vehicles or boats unless for safety reasons, sweeping outdoor surfaces rather than hosing or power washing, and adding mulch or topsoil to help aid water retention.
