No watering restrictions, ever.

[Joe Public]

Buy some acreage with your own well.

[Hassel99]

I prefer the cheaper alternative of trucking in water by little red wagon.

[delSol97]

Or just buy your own tanker truck like Magnum PI and pull up to a fire hydrant and fill up as required.

[voice of reason]

we are sitting on a 100km long lake .its not like there is no water here.the problem is that we are still using the same infrastructure that we used in the70s and now we have 300k people in the valley.every year we are running out of water .every year there will be restrictions.there is lakes all over this valley.there is water everywhere.it is just not being used properly.

[TylerM4]

Agreed. The problem is lack of infrastructure not lack of water.

Water is a renewable resource. It doesn't disappear when used - it just gets moved to different places.

Now the redistribution of water can cause problems. You are basically altering the climate/landscape away from it's natural state but that's a completely different problem.

Not sure if it's true or not, but was recently told that OK Water Basin Board estimated that as much as 40% of our treated water is "lost" along the way due to leaks, etc. If nothing else we could go a long by fixing the leaky pipes.

[ckirkey]

we are sitting on a 100km long lake .its not like there is no water here.the problem is that we are still using the same infrastructure that we used in the70s and now we have 300k people in the valley.every year we are running out of water .every year there will be restrictions.there is lakes all over this valley.there is water everywhere.it is just not being used properly.

This is where the misunderstanding lies. The Okanagan valley is a desert climate. Only about 1.5 meters of the lake is replenished and we can only use what is replenished. We have drought conditions- Hence water restrictions.

[voice of reason]

This is where the misunderstanding lies. The Okanagan valley is a desert climate. Only about 1.5 meters of the lake is replenished and we can only use what is replenished. We have drought conditions- Hence water restrictions.[/quote]
where does the water go once you use it? it is not gone.it goes down the sink ,tub,toilet to the treatment plant and back in the lake.it goes in the ground or evaporates back into the sky and falls as rain. they taught us about the water cycle in kindergaten

[ckirkey]

it goes in the ground or evaporates back into the sky and falls as rain.

Yes I understand the water cycle. But this summer there is no rain falling. And why water restrictions are applied to the water usage where evaporation is the concern, such as watering your lawn in the middle of the day.

[TylerM4]

This is where the misunderstanding lies. The Okanagan valley is a desert climate. Only about 1.5 meters of the lake is replenished and we can only use what is replenished. We have drought conditions- Hence water restrictions.

Are you sure? Okanagan lake levels are purposely controlled by OBWB. 4' of rise/drop is their target goal every year to maintain a consistent lake level. They control the outflow to maintain an increase of only 4'. Plus, they allow FAR more water out of the dam than what is used by humans for irrigation/water.

This get's complicated tho as they are also trying to maintain salmon habitats. But the problem there is when the water is released and at what rate - not a lack of supply. Their biggest problem they have is balancing needs of fish/humans while trying to prevent large changes in lake level.

It's all here in this report, and the followup report. It's dated 99 but I haven't seen a more recent study published.
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& ... kpRaclnyeA
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& ... g377G_V0nQ

[ckirkey]

I got that figure from the Okanagan Basin Water Board. But yes agreed, the key here is balancing water needs for humans (and agriculture) and fish.

[voice of reason]

.[/quote] Yes I understand the water cycle. But this summer there is no rain falling. And why water restrictions are applied to the water usage where evaporation is the concern, such as watering your lawn in the middle of the day.[/quote]
it is sitting there evaporating out of the lake anyways.im just saying we could do a lot better with the water we do have.

[slootman]

Question about restrictions someone may be able to answer:

I understand that restrictions don't apply to agriculture, but does that change once the crop is harvested? There's a cherry orchard on my street that continues to water their driveway/orchard all day even though the cherries have all been picked.

[Randall T]

I'll say it again, when the golf courses and sports fields turn brown and crispy then I'll take the OBWB drought panic tactics seriously. There are a lot of commercial properties out there that have pretty green and lush landscaping.

[Swoop]

...maybe they'll implement this as a pilot project here too - except have the sense to use white balls as suggested...

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/08/ ... y-experts/

[TylerM4]

Question about restrictions someone may be able to answer:

I understand that restrictions don't apply to agriculture, but does that change once the crop is harvested? There's a cherry orchard on my street that continues to water their driveway/orchard all day even though the cherries have all been picked.

For best fruit production - yes you need to water after harvest.
Here's why:
- Without watering the fruit trees would die. Tho I think what you are getting at is to greatly reduce water use rather than stop watering completely.
- Harvest is tough on trees, especially if mechanically harvested. Broken branches, open wounds from stems, etc. Trees need a lot of nutrients and water for a couple of weeks immediately after harvest to recover.
- Fruit trees put all nutrients into the fruit. They do not store nutrients for winter, spring budding season, etc until after fruit has been harvested. Failure to provide those nutrients/water would result in a tree that would likely not survive the winter, and if it did survive it would have a poor start to the next season greatly impacting fruit production for that year. Those new buds,pretty flowers, and 1st few leaves you see in the spring are grown using nutrients stored over the winter.