People of the Sunshine Coast:
Please, stop whining, and start taking responsibility for water catchment on your properties. We are privileged beyond belief in our availability to fresh water in coastal B.C. and have become a bunch of whiny little you-know-what water gluttons. Simple catchment systems that run off your gutters are easy and dead cheap to make, or alternatively, inexpensive to purchase and have installed locally.
I have a 15-tree fruit and nut orchard, berry bushes, and organic veggies. All are serviced for the entire summer, even in extreme drought, via a drip water system linked to a catchment that runs off my gutters. I invested in a local business, purchased and had the system installed. It is completely closed, so no mosquitoes. It has a pump I can use to get the water up to service the plants on my deck. I only run the pump when I need that option. Otherwise, zero cost once installed. Fills in six to eight 24-hour rain days.
Do I water my “lawn?” No. Don’t have one. And if I did I would let it go dormant and brown, while the plants strengthened their roots. Plant food or drought tolerant ornamentals. In this world of rapidly disappearing drinking water, there will come a day when watering edibles is all that is allowed.
Carole Rubin, Garden Bay
