Metro Vancouver water restrictions coming May 1 [Video]

Water usage restrictions will take effect across Metro Vancouver next month as the region’s snowpack remains near half the historical average for the season.

Metro Vancouver board chair George Harvie announced the coming restrictions Tuesday, saying the lack of snowpack for the region’s reservoirs and the expectation of another hot, dry summer means residents will be allowed to water their lawns a maximum of one day per week starting May 1.

“It’s important that all residents make water conservation a priority,” Harvie said in a statement. “Our water use plans are carefully tuned to respond to climate change and public demand, and we rely in part on residents doing the right thing by not wasting treated drinking water on their lawns.”

The board says the region’s drinking water reservoirs are on track to be full by mid-May, however the snowpack that supplies much of the region’s freshwater are currently at …