Stage 2 water restrictions didn’t take effect in mid-June as predicted earlier by Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) staff thanks to cooler and rainier weather.
Residents on the SCRD’s regional water system should expect restrictions to flip over to Stage 2 by the end of June or early July, said infrastructure services general manager Remko Rosenboom in a June 18 update to directors.
The Eastbourne water system on Keats Island remains at Stage 2, which, among other things, prohibits lawn watering.
Staff also plan to use the same tactic for calling water restriction stages as they did last year, which marks a change over 2018 and years prior.
In 2018, Stage 2 was called July 5 but by the end of August drought had set in, forcing the SCRD to implement Stage 4 – the most severe water restriction – for 14 days.
Stage 4 was not called in 2019. Instead, staff called Stages 2 and 3 earlier.
Rosenboom said if needed they would implement Stage 3 earlier this year, too, with the intention of avoiding Stage 4. “But it’s way too early yet” to predict when or if that would happen, he said. “There is still potential that we have to go to Stage 3 or Stage 4 – it all really depends on if we get rain in July and August and what the demand is.”
According to Environment Canada, there is no strong indication of whether it will be a dry or wet summer.
Looking at the first months of 2020, staff said there was a “clear connection” between warm temperatures and increased demand on the water system.
From January to March, household water consumption in the rural areas of the SCRD was approximately 400 litres per day. Consumption jumped to about 700 litres per day from April to June, which Rosenboom attributed to warmer temperatures and COVID-19 restrictions, since more people were at home.
Rosenboom also updated staff on leak detection efforts in the rural areas of the SCRD, where water meters are installed.
At least three “major leaks” were detected and fixed in May, including a private water line replacement in Pender Harbour to stop 65,000 litres from leaking daily, another in Roberts Creek that was leaking 43,000 litres and another in Elphinstone that was leaking 32,000 litres per day. “These are all significant volumes,” said Rosenboom. Most residents weren’t aware they had a leak.
Sechelt director Alton Toth noted that combined, those leaks make up 1.4 per cent of daily water use. “Those are leaks that we may not have discovered, at least in any sort of short order, without the meters in place,” he said.
So far, 70 people have subscribed to a monthly water usage update, introduced last month. Metered households in the rural areas can sign up for monthly updates on how much water they’re using. They can sign up at [email protected].
