Lawn & Sod Watering Notice
Homeowners are often challenged with maintaining their lawns or establishing new sod. Grass only needs 2-3 cm of water a week to survive the summer months. There are a few items regarding the local water system that we want to bring to your attention.
Lawn watering restrictions
Bylaw #44-2003 requires that lawn watering is done at most every second day. This is done through restricting watering to Odd or Even calendar days matching your house address being either an Odd or Even number. This initiative greatly reduces the peak water flow demands on the water system to ensure we can supply the community needs at all times. Not adhering to this bylaw could result in a substantial fine.
Water & wastewater sewer billing
Water and Wastewater Sewer rates are billed for each home based on the amount of water consumed. The wastewater sewer charges are based on a surcharge applied on the amount of water used. This means that you pay for an equal amount of sewer usage as the water consumed, regardless if it is used for lawn watering and not flowing “down the drain” into the wastewater sewer system. In the case of large water usage for new sod watering, this can result in large water and wastewater sewer billings. The billings are also based on a two month cycle, and the impact of this large cost can be doubled if you are accustomed to a monthly billing cycle (see chart).
wastewater sewer charges cap - july & August
The wastewater sewer charges have a cap on the amount that is charged during the months of July and August. The cap reflects a maximum wastewater sewer flow of 50 cubic meters for the two-month summer period. This means that if you use more water than the cap amount, you will not be billed the sewer surcharge for usage above this level. You will however still be charged for all water used on the Water portion of your bill. This provision
was approved by Municipal Council to assist the community with the costs of lawn watering
during the summer months.