Prince George is facing Level 4 drought conditions, meaning “adverse impacts to socio-economic or ecosystem values are likely,” according to information released by the B.C. Drought Information Portal.
The City of Prince George and provincial government are urging residents to conserve water.
“Right now, you can take great pride in a brown lawn. Brown is the new green,” a social media post by the City of Prince George said. “Our region is at a level four out of five on the drought rating scale right now. That means we all need to conserve water where we can.”
Residents are urged to conserve water by watering lawns sparingly, using only one inch of water per week and in the early morning or later in the evening to avoid evaporation. Residents can also save water by keeping showers to five minutes or less and only running full loads of laundry and dishwashers.
More tips on ways to conserve water are available on the City of Prince George website.
“Sprinkling (lawns) is allowed for even house numbers on even-numbered dates and odd house numbers on odd-numbered dates,” the City of Prince George social media post said. “Sprinkling is not allowed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Western Acres and from noon to 5 p.m. in all other areas.”
Level 4 drought conditions are reported in the Upper Fraser Basin West and Upper Fraser Basin East which bracket the city, as well as in the Parsnip and Middle Fraser basins north and south of the city. Drought conditions have worsened since June 23, when the local water basins were rated at Level 3 and Level 2 drought conditions.
The water level on the Fraser River at the South Fort George monitoring station was at 5.11 metres on Thursday, down three centimetres from Wednesday and 1.6 metres below normal for this time of year, according to information listed on the provincial website. The water level on the Fraser was categorized as “well below normal.”
The water level is ranked “well below normal” on the Nechako River at the Isle Pierre monitoring station (1.02 m below normal) and on the Salmon River near Prince George (0.32 m below normal).
Throughout B.C. four of 34 water basins in the province are rated as Drought Level 5, the highest level, and 18 are at Drought Level 4.
“If conservation measures do not achieve sufficient results and drought conditions worsen, temporary protection orders under the Water Sustainability Act may be issued to water licensees to avoid significant or irreversible harm to aquatic ecosystems,” a statement released by the B.C. ministries of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness and Forests on Thursday.
