Changes to lawn sprinkling regulations in Metro Vancouver’s water shortage response plan could hurt the maintenance of parks and sports fields, according to Coquitlam city staff.
Parks staff told council Monday that the new Stage 1 restrictions, which state civic properties can only water their lawns between 1 and 6 a.m. one morning per week plus 4 to 9 a.m. on Fridays, do not give the city enough time to do the job.
“The hours, especially on Fridays, does not allow staff to finish watering the city’s turfed assets prior to early morning park users accessing these spaces,” said a report. It added: “The city’s irrigated lawns are major assets that are costly to replace” and cities should be allowed to create their own, more flexible plans.
Staff also took issue with restrictions on watering flowers, planters, shrubs and trees using automatic systems, which under the new rules is only permitted between 1 and 9 a.m. on any day during Stages 1 and 2 restrictions.
The stricter regulations also reduce the number of days residents can water their lawns during Stage 1 from three times a week to two between 4 and 9 a.m. The initiative is expected to reduce water demand by between 2.7 billion and 4.6 billion litres.
Non-residential properties would also see their watering times reduced to match the civic property times of 1 to 6 a.m. one morning per week plus 4 to 9 a.m. on Fridays.
The city said it supports the changes for residential and non-residential properties and only wants to see the restrictions relaxed for civic properties.
In a letter to Carol Mason, Metro Vancouver’s commissioner and chief administrative officer, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart raised the city’s concerns about watering times for city parks and sports fields. Stewart also stated that Metro Vancouver should expedite infrastructure projects that will increase the region’s water storage capacity.
Coun. Terry O’Neill echoed some of the letter’s remarks during Monday’s council meeting.
“When are we going to look at increasing capacity of storing our water so we don’t have to go these draconian water measures every year,” he asked.
@gmckennaTC
