Sprinkler regulations tightened in Tri-Cities

By Gary McKenna – The Tri-City News 

Coquitlam residents will have to get up early if they want to sprinkle water on their lawns this summer.

On Monday council approved Metro Vancouver’s water shortage response plan, which allows lawn sprinkling between 4 and 9 a.m. Last year residents had the option of watering their grass between 7 and 10 p.m., which is no longer allowed under this year’s rules.

“The fundamental reason for this is to shave the peak demand,” said Bill Susak, Coquitlam’s manager of engineering. “Eliminating evening watering deals with, frankly, evaporation issues. Usually a lot more water is used in the evening and a lot more water is lost through evening waterings by evaporation.

Metro Vancouver has broken up the water plan into four stages, depending on the severity of the water shortage.

In stage one even numbered residents will be allowed to water between 4 and 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, while odd numbered homes will be allowed to water during the same time on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Even numbered non-residential properties will be allowed to water between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Monday and Wednesday while odd numbered properties can water on Tuesday and Thursday.

The second stage is more restrictive. Even numbered homes can do morning waterings on Monday only. Odd numbered properties will be permitted to water only on Thursday.

In stage three all residential and non-residential watering using a sprinkler is banned, while all watering of any kind is banned in stage four.