Summerland’s reservoirs are still full and overflowing after a high winter snow pack and a cool, wet spring and summer.
Shawn Hughes, chief water distribution officer with the municipality, said, the reservoirs usually stop spilling near the beginning of July.
Once the reservoirs stop spilling, the remaining water is all that is available for Summerland for the rest of the season.
Summerland’s reservoirs have a capacity of 14,303 million litres.
Hughes said there is no way to predict when the reservoirs will stop spilling.
“If we keep getting rains like we have had, it could go for another few weeks,” he said.
Hughes said Summerlanders are more aware of water conservation issues today than a few years ago, but there are still some wasteful water practices.
According to information released by the municipality, about half of water used for lawn irrigation is lost because of evaporation or runoff from overwatering.
Oscillating systems can lose up to half their water from evaporation.
“In general, people have better watering habits,” he said. “Certainly we’ve made progress, but there are additional improvements that can be made.”
In 1998, the reservoirs stopped spilling on Aug. 5 and in 1999, the spilling stopped on July 27. Since 2000, the reservoirs have stopped spilling in late June and early July.