Thanks to high water levels in Chapman Lake, stage one watering restrictions remain in effect for the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) water system, Bryan Shoji, the SCRD's general manager of infrastructure services, said Wednesday.
"Lake levels are still overflowing the weir. We haven't opened the dam yet. We're doing fine," Shoji said on July 10. "Consumption levels have gone up, but not crazy."
Sprinkling is permitted three days a week under stage one restrictions, whereas under stage two only evening sprinkling is allowed.
"We go to stage two when lake levels drop down below 90 per cent," Shoji said. "Our lake levels are still fine, but we don't want people to grow complacent. We want to have more for September when it comes down to crunch time."
Although there was a spike in consumption during the Canada Day long weekend, Shoji said some residents appear to have heeded the lessons from last year's record drought.
"Anecdotally we have seen improvement, but there's still a lot of sprinkling going on," he said. "At least people are staying within the restricted hours better."
On the enforcement side, SCRD sprinkler patrol crews and a water conservation student have been checking neighbourhoods for compliance to stage one watering restrictions. The SCRD has a three-stage process for enforcement, Shoji said.
"Inform them, warn them, ticket them. We have issued tickets in the past," he said.
The healthy lake levels don't guarantee there will not be a repeat of last year's drought, which led to a total ban on all outdoor watering. In fact, Shoji said, this year's weather has been "eerily similar to last year, where we had a very wet spring and wet early summer, and then it stopped."
The SCRD draws water from Chapman Creek and uses Chapman Lake to augment the creek supply. A dam on the lake is used to increase flow when water levels drop.
Meanwhile, the SCRD is soliciting public feedback on summer water use priorities before updating its drought management plan. The survey can be found at www.scrd.ca and the deadline for submissions is Aug. 15.
And directors will be presented later this month with a staff recommendation to develop a financial plan for implementing an intensive demand management (IDM) program.
One of the key recommendations in the SCRD's comprehensive regional water plan, the IDM program will include universal metering, as well as increased education and outreach. While metering and other IDM initiatives will cost almost $7 million to implement, they will still save $7 million over 25 years from the total estimated upgrade costs, according to the plan.
Shoji said the timing of the report is aimed to "feed into our 2014 budget process."
