Metro Vancouver residents are being urged to cut back on water use as drought-like conditions continue to persist well into the fall season.
In a Thursday media release, Metro Vancouver Water Committee chair Malcolm Brodie said people were using about 20 per cent more water right now than they typically do this time of year.
“Our reservoir levels are lower than we typically see for this time of year, and this higher-than-expected water usage is leading to ongoing drawdown of our water storage reservoirs,” he said.
According to Metro Vancouver, the region’s watersheds have received just 50 millimetres of rain since the start of August, an eighth of the 400 millimetres that fall on average between Aug. 1 and the middle of October.
Last year, the Metro Vancouver watershed saw 650 millimetres of rain in that same period.
Fall rains are critical in refilling reservoirs that have been depleted over the summer season. River inflows to the reservoirs are currently at record lows, Metro Vancouver said.
The regional district is urging people to not water their lawns and to let them go “golden and dormant” instead. It’s also asking people to turn off their taps when doing dishes or brushing their teeth, to take shorter showers, and to run full loads of laundry on a “normal” cold wash setting.
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