Sunshine Coast imposes most severe water restrictions on 20,000 residents due to persistent drought
Watering plants, using sprinklers and washing vehicles banned until further notice
Prolonged and intense drought conditions are forcing the Sunshine Coast's largest water system to impose its highest-level restrictions on water use starting Friday.
Stage 4 water restrictions will prohibit outdoor use of drinking water for more than 20,000 residents in communities including Sechelt, Roberts Creek and Halfmoon Bay until further notice.
Keats Island's approximately 80 residents are also under the same restrictions.
That means no watering gardens or plants, using sprinklers or washing vehicles or homes.
"You can't wash the saltwater off your boat if you're using it, you can't fill up your hot tubs, your pools, no outside use at all," said Leonard Lee, board chair of the Sunshine Coast Regional District, on Friday.
"And most unfortunate is the farmers that are using this treated water … we do give them a two-week window after Stage 4 is implemented, but after that they can't water their food-bearing crops either."
The entire Sunshine Coast is at a drought Level 5, the province's highest classification, which means damage to ecosystems and economic activities is "almost certain."
Chapman Lake, which service's the region's largest water system, was at just 15 per cent of its total water storage capacity as of Tuesday, according to the Sunshine Coast Regional District.
With Chapman Lake having dried up below the level of the dam itself, the restrictions are needed to reserve water for emergency situations like fires, said Lee.
And while water levels aren't so dire in other parts of the region, Lee says residents need to prepare for possibly months without significant rain.
"We don't know how long this drought's going to last and …our lakes are not recharging," said Lee. "Right now we've got to hope for rain."
Last year, the district was under Stage 4 restrictions for more than three months, from Aug. 31 to Dec. 13, 2022.
The prolonged drought prompted the district to declare a local state of emergency on Oct. 17.
'Sleeping giant of a natural disaster'
More than 80 per cent of water basins in B.C. are under Level 4 or 5 drought conditions, according to the province, which means economic and ecosystem damage is either likely or almost certain.
"It is unlike any kind of drought conditions the province has ever faced and, in my opinion, truly is a sleeping giant of a natural disaster that we are challenged with right now. The impacts will be very, very real," Emergency Preparedness Minister Bowinn Ma said on Wednesday.
Ma said the best-case scenario is a period of prolonged rain to replenish depleted water reserves, while the worst case would be atmospheric rivers that cause massive flooding, as seen in 2021.
One farmer says those impacts are already clear on the Sunshine Coast.
The drought and subsequent water restrictions are threatening food security in the region, according to Mel Sylvestre, owner of Grounded Acres Organic Farm outside Gibsons and president of the Sunshine Coast Farmers' Institute.
"We've lived through it once and we saw the damage it did," Sylvestre told CBC News.
Last year's drought eroded years' worth of fertility from the soil and meant essentially losing a growing season, she said.
Sylvestre and other farmers have been lobbying the regional district to be exempt from outdoor watering bans to ensure their crops succeed.
"We're hoping the authorities can get on the bandwagon that food and water should be prioritized," she said, noting much of the region's food is shipped in via ferry.
"As we're going deeper and deeper in climate change and experiencing those deeper weather changes … it might be a disincentive for future generations coming into this business, because it will be harder and harder to make a living," Sylvestre said.
With files from Joel Ballard and Moira Wyton