Okanagan residents encouraged to conserve water – Okanagan | 24CA News
The Okanagan is certainly one of Canada’s most water-stressed areas and native organizations are hoping to take steps to preserve water in communities, which in flip permits for crops, wildlife and extra to thrive throughout the valley.
With temperatures rising and summer time approaching rapidly, residents are being reminded to consider probably the most vital sources: water.
“It’s incumbent on us to protect our water source and the biggest pillar in that is conservation and this is an effort to take those necessary steps to conservation,” stated Blair Ireland, mayor of Lake Country.
Each 12 months the Okanagan Basin Water Board stresses the significance of water conservation, hoping to keep away from the implications of utilizing an excessive amount of water.
“We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we are having to make tough choices and telling people, not only are there restrictions, now we are in a drought and you cannot be watering your lawns or watering your gardens because there isn’t enough,” stated Corinne Jackson of the Okanagan Basin Water Board.
One of the principle objectives of the initiative is to scale back water waste and a part of that waste might be attributed to garden care.
“You look at the second largest use in the valley, it’s for landscaping and what are we landscaping? Grass. What is the volume that’s required to actually have a green lawn in the middle of a semi-desert,” stated Chief Byron Louis of the Okanagan Indian Band.
Although the Okanagan is filled with lakes and creeks, it’s straightforward to be deceived. The valley has the bottom per-person water availability within the nation.
“The Okanagan actually has one of the highest rates of water use in Canada, but we use almost more than anyone in Canada. It’s a real problem,” stated Jackson.
The water board is hoping native elected officers can remind residents to take the pledges related to decreasing water use to guard the useful resource for future generations.
“So important that we recognize the value we have in water but also the responsibilities that we have as individuals as governments as municipalities and cities, to make sure that we are protecting the most sacred resource that we have,” stated Westbank First Nation councillor Jordan Coble.
Pledges embody watering your garden between nightfall and daybreak in addition to watering vegetation and never the pavement. More info is obtainable on the make water work web site.
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