It’s no April fools joke. The City of Parksville and some areas in the Regional District of Nanaimo have instituted Stage 1 watering restrictions.
Customers of nine RDN water service areas, as of April 1, are now under the watering restrictions. The areas are Nanoose Bay Peninsula, French Creek/Sandpiper, San Pareil, Englishman River Community (River’s Edge), Melrose Terrace, Surfside, Decourcey (Pylades), Westurne Heights and Whiskey Creek.
This means sprinkling can only occur between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., on any day of the week, for any duration. Hand-watering, drip irrigation and micro irrigation can be applied at any time. Vegetable and food gardens are exempt from the restrictions.
This is a soft entry-point to the outdoor watering season, which serves as a reminder that the dry months are ahead and planning for efficient irrigation is important.
Additional local water providers that are moving to Stage 1 Watering Restrictions on April 1 include: City of Parksville, City of Nanaimo, EPCOR French Creek, Bowser Waterworks District, North Cedar Improvement District, and Southwest Extension Waterworks.
Other water service areas are not implementing restrictions at this time.
For more information and a map that displays the water service areas in our region including their current watering restrictions, visit www.teamwatersmart.ca.
Between April and October, watering restrictions are an effective tool to ensure water demands for essential household use, fire protection and irrigation purposes can be met, the RDN stated in a written release.
The Regional Watering Restrictions Framework provides a proactive and predictable means of implementing restrictions to guide outdoor water use in the form of four stages:
• Stage 1 April and October - consists of night-time lawn watering only, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.;
• Stage 2 May through September - limits use to “even- and odd-day” watering.;
• Stage 3 Voluntary reductions on top of Stage 2 (only as required); and
• Stage 4 Bans non-essential outdoor water use (only as required).
– NEWS Staff/RDN submission