You may or may not have noticed extra city workers cycling through Prince George with the warmer weather.
They are student workers under the City’s Water Conservation Program and are meant to provide information to homeowners watering their lawns about the sprinkling restrictions in the city.
“You are not allowed to sprinkle between 12pm and 5pm throughout the city except for in Western Acres where no sprinkling is allowed 8am and 5pm,” explains Environmental Assistant Andrea Byrne.
“If you are an odd numbered house, you can water on odd numbered days; if you are an even numbered house, you can sprinkle on even numbered days.”
Byrne says most municipalities have restrictions like these for a number of reasons. She notes Prince George residents use more water than other British Columbians. The provincial average for water usage per person per day is about 350 litres, whereas PG residents hover around 612 litres per person per day.
As for the times of day the City prohibits sprinkling, Byrne says its just a matter of not being wasteful.
“Because of the sun and the heat and the wind, about 50% of that water when you’re sprinkling during that heat of the day doesn’t even make it to your lawn,” she says.
“So it’s just a really inefficient way of sprinkling so we really want people to sprinkle when the water is actually going to be going into the ground.”
The first time someone is caught sprinkling their lawns within the restricted times will garner a warning. Every infraction after that will warrant a $100 fine.