Lawn Watering Restrictions in Metro Vancouver: What Homeowners Need to Know

From May to October, Metro Vancouver limits when and how you can use drinking water outdoors. Here is how the stages work, what each one means for lawns, gardens, cars, driveways and pools, how cities enforce them, the rules in Abbotsford, Mission and Chilliwack, and what to check in a strata, a rental or a home with an irrigation system.

The short version

How the stages and fines work

The plan applies in the municipalities that get their drinking water from Metro Vancouver's system. Each one writes the restrictions into its bylaws and enforces them. They cover only that water, not rainwater, greywater, recycled water or water from another source, such as a private well.

• Stage 1. In effect automatically every year from May 1 to October 15, to prevent waste.
• Stages 2 and 3. Declared, and lifted, by the commissioner of the Greater Vancouver Water District, based on reservoir storage, forecasts and demand. Stage 3 responds to a serious shortage.
• Stage 4. An emergency stage that limits water to essential needs.

Stages usually go in order, but any of them can come first, and cities post the one in effect. Fines rise with each stage. In Burnaby, for example, watering outside the allowed days and times brings a $150 fine in Stage 1, $250 in Stage 2, $350 in Stage 3 and $500 in Stage 4.

Lawn watering by address

In Stage 1, lawns can be watered one morning a week, on a day set by the number in your street address:

• Homes. Even-numbered addresses on Saturdays and odd on Sundays: 5 to 7 am with an automatic system, such as in-ground sprinklers on a timer, or 6 to 9 am with a sprinkler or hose you turn on yourself.
• Businesses. Non-residential and mixed-use properties water on Mondays (even) or Tuesdays (odd): 4 to 6 am automatic, 6 to 9 am manual.
• Townhouses and condos. The complex's street number counts, not your unit number.

Grass boulevards count as lawn, and Stages 2 to 4 ban lawn watering. For a newly seeded or sodded lawn, or one being treated for European chafer beetle, your city can issue a permit to water outside the schedule in Stage 1; Burnaby's lasts 21 days. Permits stay valid into Stage 2 until they expire, but no new ones are issued, and Stage 3 cancels them. Metro Vancouver's lawn care guide suggests overseeding at least a month before the restrictions begin.

Gardens, cars, driveways and pools

• Trees, shrubs and flowers. In Stages 1 and 2, a sprinkler any day from 5 to 9 am (4 to 9 am at non-residential properties), and a hose with a shut-off nozzle, a watering can, a soaker hose or drip irrigation at any time. Stage 3 rules out sprinklers and soaker hoses.
• Vegetable gardens. Any time in Stages 1 to 3.
• Hoses. In every stage, a hose needs an automatic shut-off device, such as a spring-loaded nozzle, and water shouldn't run off onto driveways or gutters.
• Cars and boats. Allowed in Stages 1 and 2. From Stage 3, you can wash only windows, lights, mirrors, licence plates and boat engines, for safety.
• Driveways, patios and siding. In Stage 2, hard surfaces can be washed only for health or safety, to prepare for painting or a similar treatment, or by a commercial cleaning company. Stage 3 drops cleaning for looks.
• Pools, hot tubs and fountains. Pools and hot tubs can be filled or topped up in Stages 1 and 2, but not in Stage 3. Decorative fountains and ponds can't be topped up from Stage 2, though ponds with fish don't count.

Stage 4 stops nearly all of it, including watering gardens.

Abbotsford, Mission and Chilliwack

Fraser Valley cities outside Metro Vancouver's system set their own rules:

• Abbotsford and Mission. They share a water system run jointly by the two cities, and each puts the same restrictions in its bylaws, from May 1 to September 30 unless extended. Stage 1 lawn days and hours match Metro Vancouver's, but the cities declare their own stages.
• Chilliwack. Its water comes from the Sardis-Vedder aquifer. From May 1 to October 15, Stage 1 allows lawn sprinkling twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays for even-numbered addresses and Thursdays and Sundays for odd, between 5 and 8 am or 7 and 10 pm.

City rules cover only city water. Chilliwack notes that private well owners aren't bound by them, though any formal restrictions on wells would come from the province. I cover wells in Buying an Acreage in the Fraser Valley.

Keeping a lawn healthy on less water

Metro Vancouver's WATERwise lawn care guide says a lawn needs as little as 2 cm of water a week, about an hour of watering or rain. Its other tips:

• Water deeply, less often. Deep, infrequent watering builds stronger roots. Water early in the morning to cut evaporation; Langley City suggests a timer that shuts the sprinkler off after an hour.
• Mow high. Set the mower at ankle height, about 5 to 6 cm, and leave the clippings to hold in moisture.
• Let it go golden. A lawn can go dormant as summer goes on. It greens up again when fall dew and rain return.

For gardens, Surrey suggests mulch, native and drought-tolerant plants grouped by watering needs, and drip irrigation, and says water-wise gardens may use up to 50% less water than lawn-based ones. Rainwater isn't covered by the restrictions, so a rain barrel helps. Richmond and New Westminster offer barrels to residents, and Coquitlam requires a plumbing permit if one connects to a pump or sprinkler.

Strata homes and rentals

Under the Strata Property Act, the strata corporation must repair and maintain common property, so shared irrigation is the strata's to run, on the day for the complex's street number. The bylaws can make you responsible for limited common property you use, such as a patio garden. My post on strata bylaws explains how they work.

In a rental, the Residential Tenancy Branch's guideline says a tenant in a single-family home, or with exclusive use of a yard, is generally responsible for routine yard work such as cutting the grass. The landlord handles major work such as pruning, and the grounds of multi-unit complexes. The guideline doesn't mention watering, so spell it out in the tenancy agreement; see Becoming a Landlord in BC.

Buying a home with an irrigation system

Common home inspection standards, such as CAHPI's and InterNACHI's, don't require inspectors to look at irrigation systems, so consider an irrigation contractor; Home Inspections in BC covers what they do check. Ask the seller for:

• The backflow test report. A backflow preventer keeps irrigation water from flowing back into the drinking water supply. Surrey, Richmond and Vancouver require testable devices to be tested by a certified tester when installed and every year after. Maple Ridge says homeowners with an in-ground irrigation system must test the device yearly and send the report to the city.
• Permits. Coquitlam, for one, requires a plumbing permit to install a lawn irrigation system that needs a backflow device.
• The controller and zones. A map of the zones and a controller set to your watering day and hours. The plan also says a system must not be faulty, leaking or misdirected.

In the fall, shut off and drain the system; see my fall and winter maintenance checklist. And at a summer viewing, a golden lawn may simply be dormant.

Questions homeowners often ask me

Can I water my lawn by hand when Stage 2 is in effect?

No. From Stage 2, lawn watering is banned whatever the method, including a hand-held hose. Trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetable gardens can still be watered by hand or with drip irrigation.

Do the restrictions apply to water from my rain barrel?

No. Metro Vancouver's plan covers only drinking water from its system, so collected rainwater, greywater and recycled water are outside it. Abbotsford and Mission exempt rainwater as well, and Chilliwack's rules apply only to city water.

Which watering day applies to a townhouse?

The day for the complex's street number, not your unit number. In Stage 1, if the complex has an even-numbered address, its residential lawns are watered on Saturday mornings; with an odd number, on Sunday mornings.

Can I fill my pool or hot tub during watering restrictions?

In Metro Vancouver, yes in Stages 1 and 2. Filling or topping up pools and hot tubs is banned in Stages 3 and 4. Coquitlam suggests filling them before May 1 and covering them when they aren't in use.

I just laid sod. Can I water it more often?

In Stage 1, ask your city for a lawn watering permit, which lets you water a new lawn outside the usual schedule for a set period. If Stage 2 is declared, no new permits are issued, and Stage 3 cancels existing ones.

Getting your home ready for summer? Read about keeping your home cool in a heat wave and wildfire risk and FireSmart, or compare Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission.

This article is general information, not legal advice. The details come from Metro Vancouver's Drinking Water Conservation Plan and lawn care guide, the water pages and bylaws of the cities named, the Residential Tenancy Branch, the Strata Property Act and published home inspection standards, and were current at the time of writing; your city posts the stage in effect and sets permits and fines. For the full rules, see Metro Vancouver's Drinking Water Conservation Plan.