As part of a Water Sustainability Action Plan, The City of Kelowna Water Utility has now implemented bylaws for all new development - commercial, industrial, institutional, and single or multi-family residential.
These bylaws are created to ensure that in the long term, water conservation and sustainability are priorities for everyone. The conservation efforts will no longer be through suggestions on water usage newsletters sent to homes around the Okanagan, but through concrete rules and regulations that citizens and Landscape/Irrigation company owners are required to follow.
In 1996, the City of Kelowna installed water meters in any remaining un-metered homes and now approximately 98% of customers to the City of Kelowna Water Utility are participants in the water-smart program through these meters. In the District of West Kelowna, beginning in 2006, the local government spent millions implementing the consumption based water billing system by installing meters in homes throughout the area. This new system did force some over-users to sit up and take notice, when slapped with a 700.00 + water bill in the first quarter. However, with outdoor lawn and garden's being a primary source of leisure activity in the Okanagan starting in April and ending anywhere from September to the end of October, the City of Kelowna and District of West Kelowna still struggle to effectively monitor and enforce water usage and conservation rules.
As the new bylaws are now in effect, the City of Kelowna may find that with both industry professionals and home owners working hand in hand towards effective and water conscious irrigation and landscape installation, the results of their conservation efforts as well as progress towards their sustainability goals will be as clear as the water running from the tap!
For more information on the new bylaw regulations please visit:
http://www.kelowna.ca/
www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page3221.aspx
www.kelowna.ca/CityPage/Docs/PDFs//Water%20Division/Water%20Smart%20Program/2010-05-03_Landscape-Irrigation-Guide-web_brochure.pdf
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