The City of Saint-Hyacinthe, in Quebec’s Montérégie region, is crossed by the Yamaska River, but it’s struggling to keep up with water demand. As of this summer, people will no longer be allowed to water their lawn from June to September. “We can’t do this anymore in 2026, even if we have a lot of water in Quebec,” said Mayor Andre Beauregard. The town’s water filtration plant runs at 80 per cent capacity right now, but with the hot summer months ahead the plant will soon run at near capacity. An expansion project is a decade away and the town wants its citizens to cut consumption. “We’re telling people not to cut the grass too short to preserve its humidity. They should keep it at 15 centimetres,” the mayor said, adding the town council even modified its bylaws allowing people to grow their grass up to 30 centimetres. Yvan Aube, a homeowner with a spotless green lawn, says he’s ready to live with the request. “In the grand scheme of things, I guess a green lawn isn’t a priority,” he told CTV News. He’s not alone. Environmentalists say using tap water to maintain the lawn or do other landscaping is a waste of resources. “We should have taken that step a while back,” says Gabrielle Roy-Gregoire, who works with the non-profit Eau-Secours, which keeps a tab on diminishing water resources. Canada, she says, has a lot of water, but it doesn’t mean everyone has access to it. “It’s true, factually, that we have 10 per cent of the world’s freshwater, but 90 per cent of the Canadian population is along the U.S. border, on the Saint Lawrence River. People are not where most of that water is,” she said. Many other cities are increasingly following St-Hyacinthe’s lead, such as Shawinigan and smaller suburbs. Beauregard says Canadians should get ready for a change of habits. “Within five or 10 years, I wouldn’t be surprised if watering the lawn in the summer is banned everywhere,” he said.
