Despite savings to the Chapman system estimated at 780,000 litres a day due to water meters, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) is once again warning that a total outdoor watering ban could come into effect any day. The good news is that we’re almost into October.
When the SCRD went to Stage 4 restrictions two years ago, on Aug. 23, 2015, there was still a month of summer left and the ban imposed a real hardship on residents, especially people who grow food crops on their properties. Grey water was the new normal and letter writers testified to going days on end without showers and flushes to help conserve the precious resource.
That sacrificial spirit suffered a blow, however, when the SCRD forged ahead with its pre-drought water management plan and the second phase of water metering, priced at $5.5 million in three-way funding. This newspaper was among those voices calling for the SCRD to revisit the plan and, if warranted, ask the senior governments to repurpose their funding contributions in light of the 2015 emergency. Rather than spend millions on meters and interim measures at the front end, the argument went, it might be more prudent to look at aggressively expanding the water supply, either with a reservoir or untapped sources, now instead of later.
Following staff’s advice, directors stuck to the plan. The majority eventually approved an emergency backup system that would enable the SCRD to draw down Chapman Lake by an additional five metres during extreme drought conditions. That project, which will cost an estimated $5 million and was strongly opposed by environmentalists, is scheduled for completion next year. In the meantime, an emergency siphon system is being readied for deployment if conditions worsen.
It’s disheartening that in a year that saw a very solid snow pack, heavy spring rains, and large savings from plugged leaks detected by water meters, the SCRD is now poised to take emergency action and possibly declare Stage 4 restrictions. The water system’s vulnerabilities are as exposed as the banks around the Chapman outlet.
There was some promising news this week about potential groundwater sources, but in reality we have to live with a plan that’s based on conservation goals set in 2011. And that means each of us conserving as much water as we possibly can.
