B.C. Drought 2023: Here are some tips on how to save water

A combination of record heat, early snow melt and low levels of precipitation have created historic drought conditions across the province.

As the province’s drought reaches historical levels, British Columbians are being urged to do their part to conserve water.

The minister of emergency management and climate readiness, Bowinn Ma, has called on residents, farmers, businesspeople and industrial plant operators to take urgent steps to cut water use.

She highlighted a report from B.C.’s River Forecast Centre that said the combination of record heat in May followed by early snow melt and persistently low levels of rain have created severe drought.

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So here are 10 tips for conserving water in B.C.:

Changing your behaviour can make a big difference. One way is to take shorter showers.

If you cut a four-minute shower to two minutes, you’d save about a bucket of water, or 20 litres, said Dr. John Richardson, a professor at the University of B.C.’s department of forest and conservation sciences.

Assuming everyone in Metro Vancouver does their part, they could save the equivalent of five to 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools a day, he said.

“That’s literally a drop in a bucket for an individual, but the collective amount of that gets to be a big number.”

Other water-saving tips at the tap:

• Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or shaving. • Use fewer dishes throughout the day. • Reuse water glasses. • Wash big pots by hand. • Run the dishwasher with full loads and set it to eco mode. • Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the fridge instead of running the tap until the water runs cold.

Homeowners can use water capture in rain barrels to collect water for watering vegetables or a garden. It’s a relatively small volume of water, but reduces demands on the region’s reservoirs.

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If growing vegetables, Metro Vancouver advises choosing plants that love dry heat such as tomatoes, basil, beans, melon, and eggplant. Plant in spring and fall, not during the summer when water regulations may be in place.

Put leaves and bark mulch around shrubs and trees to hold in moisture and slow down evaporation. Get rid of weeds, which can establish roots that compete for nutrients and water.

Use grow bags on trees in the summer. The bags deliver water deep below the soil surface and encourage root growth during dry conditions.

Those with patio gardens should put their planter boxes into the shade so they won’t dry out.

Wash your driveways, decks and sidewalks with a broom instead of using a hose. A 15-minute clean can use 675 litres of water.

Much of the debris in these areas are often organic, like soil or leaves. Simply sweep them up onto your lawn or gather up the leaves and put it in compost or around your plants.

Metro Vancouver advises washing windscreens, windows and headlights using a bucket. For heavy-duty jobs, use a commercial car wash that recycles water.

The regional district also recommends installing a shut-off nozzle on your hose to ensure it only runs when in use. An average garden hose delivers around 45 litres of water a minute.

It may not be practical to change your appliances all at once. But as appliances reach their end of life, consider replacing them with low-flow appliances such as a dual-flush toilet, low-flow shower heads or front-loading washing machines.

Richardson says water-guzzling lawns need a rethink in today’s challenging times.

“The whole social construct of a property with a nice green lawn, a few flower beds, a single tree — there’s no real reason why we have to do that,” he said.

Going by U.S. statistics, the average lawn and garden uses about 180 litres of water a day. If lawns are replaced with drought-resistant plants, multiplied by all the lawns in Metro Vancouver, that is another example of small incremental measures that add up to big water savings, said Richardson.

The most popular lawn grass, Kentucky bluegrass, isn’t even native to B.C.

He urges people to consider creating gardens of native plants that are more drought-tolerant and include shade trees to keep cooler and reduce evaporation.

One idea is to plant micro clover. Metro Vancouver says micro clover lawns stay greener in the summer dry periods and are generally unaffected by wet winters.

If you do have a lawn, the regional district says let it go golden and dormant in the summer. With proper preparation and care, its green will return in fall when it rains.

Make sure you don’t have leaky pipes.

Household leaks waste up to 14 per cent of all indoor water use, according to the Victoria area regional district. It says a leaky faucet can waste more than 11,000 litres of water a year.

Metro Vancouver suggests this tip to check for a leaky toilet: Drop a teaspoon of food colouring into your toilet tank and if the colour appears in the bowl within 15 minutes, you’ve got a leak. Check your flapper valve. Many leaks can be fixed by replacing a worn-out valve.

Should cities start metering water? Some municipalities, like Burnaby, do. Vancouver doesn’t.

It may be an unpopular idea, but if people have to pay for what they use, they’ll have an incentive to conserve.

“Almost everywhere that has done that has seen water use go down,” said Richardson. “We all need to do our share since water is a community resource and it is in limited supply.”

A good example of water conservation, says Richardson, are programs in B.C. such as Water Smart in the Okanagan region, which has one of the highest rates of water use per person in the country.

The program encourages and educates residents to save water. For example, the City of Kelowna offers free assessments to help residents improve their irrigation systems.

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—with files from The Canadian Press

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