Canada: How Metro Vancouver plans to safeguard its water supply as demand rises and climate changes
At the community garden at Robson and Broughton streets in Vancouver, where watering is done by hand, some gardeners found creative ways to conserve water
By Glenda Luymes
Vancouver Sun
Oct 10, 2023
Excerpt:
“Watering is an ongoing activity,” said Chris Reid, executive gardener with Community Garden Builders. “Some gardeners post signs that say ‘please water me’ to invite neighbours to help.”
With much of B.C. in the grip of drought, Metro Vancouver reservoirs, which supply the region’s tap water, were at their lowest level for September in a decade. Rain at the end of the month and into October has since increased levels to about the same as 2021.
Melting snow usually replenishes the region’s reservoirs through the summer, but warm weather in May and June caused the mountain snowpack to melt early and quickly, reducing the amount trickling in over the drier months.
For the first time since 2015, watering restrictions in Metro Vancouver were raised beyond Stage 1 to Stage 2 in early August after water use in June and early July climbed about 20 per cent higher than the same period in 2022, leading to a complete ban on lawn watering.
“The watering restrictions don’t include edible plants, but we’d sure be in a tough spot if one day the stages got there,” said Reid.
While reservoir levels remained within “normal operating range” even at the lowest point, with about 136 billion litres of water available on Sept. 24, experts say the unusual summer shows the need to safeguard Metro Vancouver’s drinking water supply amid climate change and increased demand from population growth.
