Residents living in Thornhill and North Terrace looking to escape the summer heat will have to wait to fill up their backyard pools for now.
The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine (RDKS) has issued a water restriction for Thornhill and northern parts of Terrace, including North Eby, Dutch Valley, and Kalum Lake Drive, spreading to Braun’s Island in the south. Announced at 12:31 p.m. on June 18, the restriction is a response to increasing demands created by warmer weather, according to RDKS.
“It’s to prevent a shortage,” said Parrish Miller, the regional district’s works and services foreman. “We hit a certain threshold within our water system that triggers us to indicate this.”
On June 17, Father’s Day, Miller said Thornhill’s population of 6,000 people consumed 4500 cubic metres of water in a day.
“If you’re looking at it broken down per capita, on that given day… every person in Thornhill consumed about three-quarters of a cubic metre of water… that’s 750 litres of water per person.”
Now, under the restrictions, irrigation of lawns and domestic gardens is permitted only once per week between 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., or by hand watering at any time. Residents are also asked to refrain from washing exterior surfaces of buildings, driveways, vehicles, patios or other hard landscape surfaces, and filling or adding water to swimming pools.
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The restrictions will be in effect until further notice from the district.
