Vancouver Following in California’s Footsteps?

The short answer is no. Don’t you worry!

Our neighbour, Washington State, has declared a drought emergency this Friday after a dry winter had severely depleted the mountain snowpack. This snowpack is necessary for keeping lakes, rivers, and streams full.

Currently BC has a low snow pack as well but the Ministry of Forest, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations is optimistic and states that BC is in good shape compared to Washington.

Parts of BC’s interior are very dry and have already start saving their water in different ways. The snow pack however on the south coast is only 12 percent of normal, which is the lowest of all regions listed in May. Luckily, the reservoirs are at full storage capacity right now, which is considered great, heading into the summer.

As of June first there are ways you can start conserving water yourself:

• Limit residential and non-residential lawn sprinkling (sprinkling times can be found on vancouver.ca) and if you’re worried about a yellow lawn we have a post coming up later this week just for you!
• Limit car washing and boat washing
• Have a water basin in your yard to collect rainwater for when needed.

Currently 10 out of 24 regions in the province are rated dry as of right now, so by doing your part we can keep those averages and limit the chance of competing with California for who’s thirstier.

– K