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Proposed bylaw aims to regulate outdoor water use
City of Cranbrook council July 11 passed three readings of a potential new Outdoor Water Use and Regulation Bylaw.
Outdoor Water Use and Regulation Bylaw No. 4091, 2022, will permit the city to regulate water use based on the water elevation recorded at the Phillips Reservoir (pictured) and establish water use guidelines and regulations.
The bylaw will outline enforcement options and penalties which will help to protect the city’s water supply and create consistencies, a Public Works report to council noted.
In 2021, the city and surrounding area experienced a lack of precipitation, and high temperatures that resulted in the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development updating the drought levels for the Kootenay Boundary Region basin to a level 3 for the East Kootenay and asked for a 30% reduction of water use in both surface and groundwater supplies. In response the city initiated stage 2 of the city’s Outdoor Water Management Policy No. 60-20, the Public Works report said.
During 2021 several inconsistencies and discrepancies were identified with the existing city policy. These included:
- days permitted to water were not consistent throughout the phases of the policy;
- there were no phases past the phase 2;
- there was a lack of accountability and enforcement of the policy.
The policy was created in 2006 and does not represent the current state of today’s climate change adaptation direction for the city, and other communities within the Columbia Basin, the report outlined.
To provide the city with the ability to enforce the Water Use Regulations outlined in the newly proposed bylaw, city staff are proposing an amendment detailing the specific offences and penalties.
Under the proposed Bylaw Notice Enforcement Amendment Bylaw violations of water use during any of the proposed four stages in the new bylaw would be subject to a $125 fine for a first offense, $250 for a second and $500 for a third offence, with reduced penalties for early fine payment and additional penalties for late fine payment.
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