Lawn watering is prohibited as of Friday, May 1 throughout Surrey and Metro Vancouver, as Stage 2 watering restrictions take effect.
All residential and non-residential lawn watering is banned, including schools and city lawns, and grass boulevards. Topping up or filling fountains or water features is also banned, as well as operating water spray parks, unless they are equipped with user-activated switches.
“With hot and dry weather in the long-range forecast, we need to make sure we use treated water where we need it most — drinking, cooking, and cleaning,” the Metro Vancouver website notes.
Watering trees, shrubs and flowers is permitted any day from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. if using an automatic or manual sprinkler, or any time if hand watering or using drip irrigation; hoses must have an automatic shut-off nozzle.
Vegetable gardens can also be watered at any time.
Metro Vancouver is responsible for storing, treating, and delivering clean, safe drinking water through its member jurisdictions to more than three million people in the Metro Vancouver region, the website says.
In White Rock, which is on its own aquifer and doesn’t receive Metro Vancouver water, the city’s website states Stage 1 watering restrictions automatically start on Friday, May 1, with Stage 2 to 4 restrictions “implemented as needed.”
Stage 1 restrictions mean residential lawn watering is permitted one day a week; automatic watering is allowed from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., while manual watering is allowed from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. for even-numbered addresses on Saturdays, and for odd-numbered addresses, on Sundays.
The rules are similar but differ slightly for non-residential.
Visit the city of White Rock’s website at whiterockcity.ca/296/Water-Conservation and the Metro Vancouver site at metrovancouver.org/services/water/water-restrictions