By Ian Holmes

Despite huge spike in demand, Parksville supply holding steady

Jun 16, 2016 | 4:43 PM

While demand for Parksville water is way up, supply is in good shape.

The city’s director of operations Mike Squire admits he’s a bit concerned water use is up more than 44 percent since May 1st, compared to their historical average.

However, he says a number of factors are at play, most notably a warmer and drier spring and a rise in the number of tourists.

“Right now we have a full reservoir, it’s 100 percent full. We don’t expect to be withdrawing any water out of the Arrowsmith dam until 7 to 10 days from now. Snow pack is marginal, but certainly a huge improvement from last year,” said Squire.

Squire says most people are obeying level two watering restrictions, but says increasing to level three is possible if demand continues rising.

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“If we do see a dramatic rise in our water supply demand, if the public are using more than what’s required, we will certainly curb that and look very closely at going to additional water conservation levels.”

Officials in Nanaimo appealed to the public this week to cut down on their consumption, noting use is 10 percent higher this year compared to last.

Most water service providers on the mid-island have stage-two restrictions in place.