Editor:
We are at Stage 4 water restrictions. Last week’s issue had that headline.
I have just, once again, bailed my “short shower” water into buckets to try and keep some of my precious garden specimens from dying away. No water for my vegetable garden.
Your article about the water shortage quotes SCRD GM of infrastructure services Remko Rosenboom: “The water supply to the customers on the Chapman water system is not guaranteed if the current dry weather continues into the fall.” That means it’s possible our taps will go dry?
Then I read the article about The Strand development getting approval for 20 units and Coun. Tom Lamb would prefer 100 units. Will they be required to have rainwater collection systems incorporated into the design? How about grey water collection? Is that a current requirement for the many new homes under local construction, because water shortages are a reality for our area?
How is it possible for current resident taxpayers to be at risk of no water and yet the district is still issuing development permits for hundreds more users?
Climate change is upon us. Climate scientists are telling us that a hotter, drier future is here and not going away: Low snow pack, shrinking reservoirs. This drought is not a one-off! If we do not come to terms with that reality, the future is even grimmer than it has to be.
I wonder what my home here in Sechelt will be worth in a few years when it no longer comes with a functioning indoor toilet?
L.R. Enright, Sechelt
