Metro Vancouver moving back to Stage 2 water restrictions this week

A person washes a car in this file image.

Metro Vancouver is downgrading water restrictions from Stage 3 to Stage 2 later this week, as a pipe that was shut off for construction is back online.

The new rules come into effect on Thursday, July 16.

Under Stage 2 water restrictions, lawn watering is still banned, and residents cannot top up decorative water features. But unlike Stage 3, washing cars and boats is allowed, as is topping up pools and hot tubs and using sprinklers or soaker hoses to water landscaping and trees.

“We sincerely thank the residents and businesses who reduced their water use while we completed work to upgrade our water supply system,” said Mike Hurley, Metro Vancouver chair, in a news release Monday.

“We are pleased to have this piece of work done on the Stanley Park Water Supply Tunnel Project. However, with hot and dry weather in the forecast and no snowpack to help refill the reservoirs, conservation will still be key to helping the water supply last until the fall.”

The regional district made the unprecedented move to go straight to Stage 2 water restrictions on May 1 in anticipation of a dry summer, and advanced to Stage 3 in June.

Officials said water usage needed to remain below 1.4 billion litres per day so water pressure wasn’t affected while the First Narrows Crossing was out of service.

Water usage did not go above that threshold during Stage 3 restrictions, peaking at 1.37 billion litres.

The district shut off the First Narrows Crossing pipe, which brings water over from the Capilano and Seymour reservoirs, to build a bypass around construction on a new water main in Stanley Park to replace the existing one built in the 1930s. The Stanley Park Water Supply Tunnel Project is expected to be completed in 2029.