Skip to content

City of Grand Forks warns residents to follow lawn watering regulations

Despite the late snow melt and heavy rainfall in the spring, the City of Grand Forks warns residents to follow a bylaw when watering lawns.
75464grandforksGFGwaterrestrictions120808
Hal Wright (left)

Despite the late snow melt and heavy rainfall in the spring, the City of Grand Forks is warning residents to follow a bylaw when watering lawns.

Regulations for residents connected to the city’s water system see people residing in even numbered addresses permitted to use water sprinklers on their lawns on even numbered days (the second, fourth days of the month and so on) while people with odd numbered addresses are permitted to use sprinklers on odd numbered days (the first, third days etc.).

Manual sprinklers may be used between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Automatic, timed underground sprinklers can be used either between 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. or at the same times as manual sprinklers but it has to be at one time or the other, not both.

Sprinkling is permitted on the 31st day of any month, with even numbered houses on the city system allowed to use manual sprinklers between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and those with odd numbered houses permitted to sprinkle between 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Those with automatic timed underground sprinklers can water their lawns between 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. Otherwise, even numbered addresses can water their lawns between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. while odd numbered addresses can do so between 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. – again, it has to be one time or the other, not both.

Hal Wright, the City of Grand Forks’ manager of operations, said that it isn’t just a matter of water conservation, it’s a matter of fire protection as well.

“In this season, when it’s time for sprinkling and the extra watering that would go on with the heat, the (city’s) five pumps are in jeopardy of keeping up the levels that need to be maintained for fire flow,” Wright explained. “The fire authority would like us to maintain between 65 and 70 per cent of levels in the reservoir and we’re running a risk of not being able to fight a major event, much like the Grand Forks Hotel that burned down.”

Dale Heriot, Grand Forks fire chief, said that there is a chance there might not be enough water if the March fire that destroyed the Grand Forks Hotel happened today.

“I’m not sure where the water level is in the reservoir right at this time (but) there would certainly be a concern about running our reservoir low,” said Heriot. “I know at this time of year, we run almost all of our pumps all the time and if we don’t have conservation and we had that fire, we run out of water to fight the fire or we’re going to run the city out of water.”

Wright said it is imperative that if people miss their allotted time for sprinkling, they don’t try to make it up at another time other than their allowable time.

“It really puts the city waterworks in jeopardy of being able to follow their permit and providing the water flow that is required to keep the emergency systems going and in fact, is in jeopardy of lowering the reservoir to a level that we won’t be able to supply everybody with water in the city,” he said.

“Basically we’ll have all five pumps running and the reservoir will begin to empty, so you see what’s happening,” said Dean Chapman, city utilities co-ordinator. “We can only produce so much and we can only store so much.”

Chapman said that the city’s water levels are good right now but problems can be avoided by adhering to the rules, adding that stress to the city water system has only occurred recently.

“We’ve had such a mild spring – we had tonnes of rain – and we had a few days of heat and it’s natural, (people) go home and turn on their sprinklers because it’s hot,” the utilities co-ordinator said.

“What we want to stress the most is adherence to the regulations.”

The city has five wells – a pump by Hutton Elementary School, two by Angus MacDonald Park and two located in Dick Bartlett Park.

The east zone reservoir is located by Valley Heights while another reservoir is located above the Valley Heights area, which feeds only Valley Heights.

“This east zone reservoir balances the entire grid, the entire distribution system, so basically what happens is, the pumps operate on a level of the reservoir. The reservoir drops to say, 85 per cent and one or a series of pumps will come on to fulfill that demand to get it back up to full,” Chapman said. “We start to panic as operators when all five of our pumps are running and we’re looking at the reservoir dropping, because there’s no more water.”

He said that the city isn’t at a critical stage yet but it wants to get the word out before it’s too late. “At that point, we’re on the radio going, ‘You can’t sprinkle your lawn, you can’t wash your car, you can’t fill your pool,’” Chapman went on to say.



Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

After interning at Vancouver Metro free daily newspaper, I joined Black Press in 2010.
Read more