UPDATED: Watering of lawns banned south of Mission Creek in Kelowna

KELOWNA – A mechanical failure has forced the City of Kelowna to call for “stage four” water restrictions south of Mission Creek.

The restrictions will continue until further notice, according to a press release issued on the afternoon of Sept. 5.

This means no watering of lawns or gardens, trees or shrubs, no cleaning of outdoor surfaces, washing of vehicles, filling pools or ponds, the City said. The ban includes automatic sprinkler systems and hand-held watering.

The City said water may only be used indoors as needed for drinking, cooking and sanitary purposes.

The mechanical failure happened last evening, Sept. 4, at the Eldorado pump station.

“We need residents and business owners in this area to be quite strict in their water use and only use water indoors as needed,” Kevin Van Vliet, the city’s utility services manager, said in the release. “The restriction is expected to last until Thursday evening.”

The City doesn't say how many customers are impacted.

More information is available here: kelowna.ca/water.

— This story was updated at 3:48 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, to say the ban is until further notice.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics