Brittle, yellow grass may be the new normal for Vancouver lawns as the city moves into its third stage of water restrictions amid a dry summer season.
As of this week, residents are no longer allowed to water their lawns, wash their cars or fill their pools.
The Metro Vancouver area has ramped up water conservation measures once again as it suffers through the driest spring and summer in the city’s history.
“This is the worst it’s ever been. We’ve never had a dry May, June and into July with no rainfall,” North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto told CTV News. “This is the (most) stressed we’ve ever been, and B.C. Hydro estimates this is a one-in-750-year occurrence.”
Outdoor vegetable gardens and plants are still allowed to be watered, but only with a spring-loaded shutoff nozzle, according to the Metro Vancouver website.
Commercial car washes, which use mostly recycled water, are also permitted to operate.
And though some people have been flouting the ban, Mussatto said most aren’t complaining.
“Actually, people are understanding, because they see it too,” he said. “They see the hot, dry weather and they see the brown lawns pretty much everywhere. And they know something is going on, so they want to participate.”
Mussatto said that about 90 per cent of people are co-operating with the measures. Those found breaking the ban will most likely receive a warning first, but could be hit with a ticket for up to $500 for multiple offences.
He added that the city has hired extra staff to track down and educate people who are breaking the restrictions.
Jerry Dobrovolny, Vancouver's acting general manager of engineering, said that so far the city has handed out over thirty tickets and issued more than 1400 warnings.
"Enforcement continues to pick up. We have 14 enforcement officers out and about writing tickets, and again our goal is compliance not punitive measures," said Dobrovolny.
Mussatto said the city needs at least 100 millimetres of rain to get back to normal, which means three or four days of solid rain.
Metro Vancouver Chairman Greg Moore said Monday that water reservoirs were at about 69 per cent capacity, down from 74 per cent last week. He said the city – which is using 1.35-billion litres of water per day – needs to cut its usage down to 1.2-billion-litres per day to make sure it lasts until October.
Moore said the city had imposed stage-three restrictions once before, in 2003. Even then, he said, the bans didn’t come this early in the season.
For residents, Metro Vancouver recommends sweeping dirty driveways and paths rather than spraying them with water.
The city also says brown, parched lawns should “green up” again when the rain falls, and until then, leaving grass clippings atop the lawn will help trap moisture and feed the lawn naturally.
With files from The Canadian Press and a report from CTV Vancouver's Maria Weisgarber
