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Water conservation urged

Summerland still has plenty of water in its reservoirs, but the municipality is urging residents to conserve.

Summerland still has plenty of water in its reservoirs, but the municipality is urging residents to conserve.

Devon van der Meulen, manager of utilities for the municipality, said the water system is at 78 per cent of its full capacity.

The system, when full, can hold 14,136 megalitres.

While signs have been set up around the community urging for water conservation, the watering restrictions remain at the lowest level.

“We’re still comfortable in Stage 1 restrictions,” van der Meulen said. “We still have reasonable levels of storage.”

Stage 1 restrictions allow residential watering three days a week. Under Stage 2, residential irrigation is restricted to twice a week, while Stage 3 restrictions allow watering once a week.

Stage 4 and 5 restrictions prohibit residential lawn watering, along with the exterior washing of buildings, windows, parking lots, driveways and sidewalks.

The water conservation signs were set out in an effort to reduce the community’s consumption, in order to avoid more restrictive conservation measures.

“We want to try and conserve as much as we can,” van der Meulen said.

Other B.C. communities have imposed stringent water use restrictions as they cope with drought conditions.

In Summerland, van der Meulen said a change in weather helped to reduce water use.

“As soon as we put the signs out, we had rain,” he said.

Consumption tends to increase when the temperature rises.

 



John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

John Arendt has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.
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