By Dan Marshall

Water usage up in mid-island

Jun 14, 2016 | 8:08 PM

People on the mid-island are using more water than last year.

The City of Nanaimo’s Water Resource Manager Bill Sims says the local reservoir is in good shape, but that will change if water usage continues to rise.

“Our water reservoir at Jump Lake, we’re now at full which is exactly where we want to be at this time of year.  So we’re in better shape than we were last year.  But with the early onset of warm weather, it’s about six weeks earlier than normal.  So we’re seeing that corresponding spike in water use,  up nine or ten percent above where we were last year,” said Sims.

According to Sims overall water consumption is down sharply over the past 10 years.

“It’s been astounding in the last 10 years to see how much consumption has dropped off.  This year’s a bit of an exception, but in general over the last 10 years our water consumption is down 25 or 30 percent over what it was a decade ago.  That’s huge kudos to the residents of Nanaimo being conscious of their water use.”

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Meanwhile in Parksville, water consumption since April 1st is up a disturbing 44.5 percent above the historical average.

In the Regional District of Nanaimo four of the eight areas have had increased water demand over last year.

At this point stage two watering restrictions are in place in the mid-island, with stricter rules based on consumption and weather conditions likely over the next several weeks.