Water restrictions in place for Dartmouth, Cole Harbour, surrounding communities

A mandatory water restriction has been placed on much of Halifax Regional Municipality as a result of the “prolonged hot, dry weather” the region has been experiencing in recent weeks.

READ MORE: Drought reaches 1,000 families in southwestern Nova Scotia

Halifax Water issued the consumption restrictions for residents served by Lake Major — that includes Dartmouth, Cole Harbour, Westphal, North Preston and Eastern Passage

According to James Campbell with Halifax Water, the levels in the lake are three feet lower than usual.

“We’ve never had water restrictions in my time and I’m not aware we’ve ever had water restrictions on any of our water supplies, so this is pretty significant,” Campbell said.

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The restriction essentially means no outdoor water use for residents in the communities; no lawn, garden, plant or other outdoor water use.

People are also being advised not to wash their cars, RVs or other vehicles at home. Commercial car washes are still available for now.

READ MORE: Dry weather makes for extremely low water levels in Halifax-area lakes, rivers

Lakeland Plant World is a family run nursery that’s been suffering thanks to the high temperatures and dry summer weather this year.

“We’ve had a lot of heat, we’ve had lack of water, I think we went 75 days of sun in Nova Scotia and we need some more rain,” said Robin Godfrey.

Godfrey said that due to the nature of his business, they won’t be able to stop using water, but they do have a system in place to reduce the impact on the water supply.

“We do try to manage our water very, very well. We water at night to eliminate evaporation, we have some drip irrigation in place so that’s a lot more efficient,” Godfrey said.

– With files from Alexa MacLean, Global News.