While the province called for local governments to increase efforts to save water supplies on July 13, Gibsons remains at entry level water restrictions as of July 31. Mayor Silas White has stated any change to that will be based on local supply and use information.
Gibsons enacted Stage 1 restrictions in alignment with other areas of the lower Sunshine Coast on May 1. On July 28, when asked if higher level constraints were being considered, White stated “I am committing to only doing so based on data that we can share with our residents and businesses demonstrating how we are overusing our water at this time of year. If people are already sufficiently conserving, however, I don’t believe we should be going to Stage 2."
In his email response to Coast Reporter, he indicated per person usage for town water system customers was at about 408 litres per day.
'Apples to apples' reporting needed
In areas adjacent to Gibsons connected to Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) water systems, usage is reported on a per residential connection basis. Average level usage for those customers was at 1,025 litres per day as of June, according to an update from that local government’s staff issued on July 27.
White indicated that while there are "different variables that can go into how we determine" town per household (rather than per person) calculations, Gibsons is currently at "around 739 litres daily” per residential connection.
The mayor has asked town staff to do the math to align Gibsons’ reporting methods with those of the SCRD to be able to compare “apples to apples."
“We should have more reliable comparative data for the public in the coming weeks… it is also going to help the town consider if and when we should consider Stage 2 water restrictions… South Pender Harbour is on Stage 3 and Gibsons is on Stage 1. So people in the town are not even being restricted very much, and we are using a lot less water” he wrote in his email.
Metered billings impact water use
White attributed the differing usage levels to the town’s water metering and volumetric billing systems. "The SCRD needs to start doing [billing for water volumes used] as well for areas that have meters installed, as soon as possible. I do think the numbers prove that overall, there is an entirely different mindset regarding what is 'necessary' summer water usage between volumetrically billed communities and households that are billed at a flat rate, and we want to help the SCRD adopt the former mindset Coast-wide."
