The City of Kamloops could hit the most severe Drought Level 5 for the first time in its history in the near future.

That is according to Utility Services Manager, Greg Wightman, who says the forecast ahead is pretty drastic.

“If we do get to that level -and its probably more of a when than an if – we will be looking at some fairly drastic measures particularly for residential irrigating,” Wightman said on NL Newsday.

“I think that is where our biggest opportunity is and we’re able to increase some restrictions there.”

With Kamloops currently on Drought Level 4, Wightman says the City has cut back on its irrigation, but stopped short of bringing in other more drastic restrictions on things like residential irrigation, personal vehicle washing and commercial pressure washing.

“You do want to allow irrigation to occur as long as you can so you try and make sure that you’re taking these actions when its absolutely required,” Wightman said.

“The 25 per cent reduction in irrigation that we’ve done as a City just to kind of show some leadership will have a big impact on overall water use in the City, but when we get to this Level 5, its going to be something new for this community and we’re really going to have to come together to keep as much water in the rivers as we can.”

Like the City of Kamloops, the BC Government is also urging people and businesses to make water conservation a priority.

The province says four of its 34 water basins – Fort Nelson and Bulkley Lake in the North and East and West Vancouver Island – are at a Drought Level 5 while 18 others are at Drought Level 4 as of Thursday, July 13.

At Level 5, conditions are exceptionally dry and all efforts should be made to conserve water and protect critical environmental flows.

“Water is a precious resource and we are fortunate to have some of the best water in the world,” Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma said at a news conference. “Every drop counts and that’s why everyone needs to do their part.”

She highlighted a report from B.C.’s River Forecast Centre that said the combination of record heat in May followed by early snow melt and persistently low levels of precipitation have created historic drought conditions across the province.

Among the conservation measures Ma urged residents to consider were watering lawns sparingly, taking shorter shower, and only doing full loads of laundry.

“You can save 19 litres of water for every minute of reduced shower time,” she said. “Every load of laundry uses up to 190 litres of water. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth or shaving.”

Wightman tells Radio NL the City of Kamloops is in regular contact with provincial officials on things like monitoring and working to balance water use with environmental flow needs.

Drought conditions could accelerate the planned shutdown of the Noble Creek Irrigation System creating additional challenges for the roughly 50 users of the over 100-year-old system north of Westsyde.

“We’ll wait and see what comes out of our team meeting on Monday but at this point, being at Level 4, it’ll be more of an education campaign just letting people know that their automated sprinkler systems are out of line with our sprinkling restrictions and encouraging them to make those adjustments,” Wightman said, when asked why the City hadn’t brought in more drastic restrictions before it got too late.

“If we have to get to the stage where we’re doing enforcement, we’re certainly prepared to do that and willing but we always prefer education where possible.”

– With files from Brett Mineer and The Canadian Press