Water use restrictions in the town of Osoyoos and adjacent rural areas have been lifted, effective immediately.
Council voted Monday to lift the water-use rules, which limited lawn watering to two days per week and prohibited using a hose for washing boats, vehicles, sidewalks, driveways, parking lots or exterior building surfaces at any time.
The water restriction bylaws were passed in early June for the town and mid-August for irrigation districts 8 and 9.
Mayor Sue McKortoff was the lone dissenting vote on the motion, saying, “We are still in a drought situation.”
In an interview later, McKortoff said that everyone needs to “look at water in a different way … (and) we can’t ever go back to watering as much as we want (to) anytime.”
She pointed out that other Okanagan jurisdictions, including Summerland, Penticton and Kelowna, begin their summer seasons with some water-use restrictions already in place.
Council also approved a motion from Councillor CJ Rhodes that will provide some fact-based information when water-shortage issues arise again.
Rhodes pointed out that meters in six area wells, which are currently used to activate the pumps, could also be used to provide a measure of the water level in the aquifer.
He proposed a motion, which council unanimously approved, to investigate the use of the well-level data when assessing the relative shortage of water in the area.
Town chief administrative officer Barry Romanko said the town would look at what the water levels are now and then compare them in the spring. Rhodes said that the information about the aquifer levels combined with other data from the Okanagan Basin Water Board, the province and elsewhere will provide “a much better method of determining water restrictions for next year.”