Tofino needs alternative to tourist shutdown: councillor

If all tourist businesses in Tofino are forced to close for the Labour Day weekend due to an extreme water shortage, the Vancouver Island community faces financial disaster, a councillor warns.

Tofino Mayor John Fraser issued a order on Tuesday, orderingrestaurants, hotels and resortsto close by Friday —to deal with extremely low water levels in the district's reservoir. A boil water order was also issued for the limited water now being drawn from a backup source.

Coun. Michael Tilitzky, who is also the manager of the local chamber of commerce, said he still hopes other solutions can be found to avoid kicking all the tourists out this weekend.

"I think we put the 'Closed until further notice' sign out too early without looking at all the options. And what we really needed to do was reduce consumption," Tilitzky said.

"If we have to wait two weeks for rain, businesses are going to go under. People are going to lose their businesses."

The shutdown hit the popular tourist destination on the island's west coast right before the last busy weekend of the summer, leaving tourists and wedding parties scrambling to find last-minute alternatives and businesses vowing to stay open.

Tofino council is slated to debate the issue on Thursday. Tilitzky said he hopes the meeting will result in alternatives to the shutdown, ordered after two months without much rain caused the reservoir's level to plummet.

"People are now scrambling to try and stay open, and what we're seeing in the community is some businesses are closing, others are staying open, others don't know what to do because they've been given an order by the District of Tofino," he said.

"I think had we had the opportunity to try and pull together, it would have been much more unifying, whereas now my concern is it's going to divide the community as to who is going to stay open and who is not."

Some resorts set to defy order

Some businesspeople have already been making arrangements to bring in their own water supplies for the holiday weekend in order to stay open.

One of the biggest developers and resort owners in Tofino is among them. Chris LeFevre said he will truck in water to keep the Weigh West Resort, Middle Beach Lodge and Bella Pacifica Campground open.

However, the Pacific Sands Beach Resort said it plans to lay off 25 people and operate with a skeleton staff for the long weekend.

Other tourist operators, including surf schools, are making plans to cut their consumption of tap water to stay open.

It is estimated it would take two days of rain to restore water levels in Tofino's main reservoir on nearby Meares Island to a level that would allow the edict to be lifted.

Tofino a wet spot

Tofino is one of the rainiestcommunities in British Columbia, getting more than 320 centimetres of rain on an annual basis, most of it during the winter months.

It has faced water shortages in previous summers, but none this severe.

The district's reservoir is currently being upgraded, a project that will dramatically increase its size to prevent future water shortages. The construction is expected to be complete by next summer.

The community's year-round population is about 1,800, but it swells during summer months to about 18,000.

It's estimated that more than one million people a year visit the picturesque fishing village.