Thompson River looking toward Overlanders Bridge from Rabbit Island, April 8, 2023/via Victor Kaisar

Enhanced water restrictions that came into effect in the City of Kamloops last month will remain in place for now, even as cooler, wetter fall weather is here.

Engineering Manager, Deven Matkowski, says its because the City cannot make that move as the North and South Thompson Rivers remain at Drought Level 5 – the highest in a six-level scale.

“What we are looking for is a rise in river levels,” Matkowski said on NL Mornings. “This time of year, its definitely cooler. Water use is going down, the fire threats are going away, so its fair that people are asking ‘is that related to watering restrictions?'”

“The fire and that dryness isn’t just what it was about, its about river levels. That is what the province is watching, I think, mostly now is river levels and that is a weather thing, which if you can predict it better than anyone else, you’ll know better when the restrictions will go away.”

Hydrometric data from the Federal Government shows water levels on the Thompson River at Kamloops did rise this week thanks to rain that fell after months of decline. The river level is currently about 2.4 metres, down from roughly 7.2 metres at the end of May.

Data from the city shows that water use between September 18 and 24 was about 119 million litres. That was the lowest in a single week since the restrictions were brought in.

“We know the restrictions aren’t doing a lot now because people’s water use and all of our water use is mostly outdoor water use,” Matkowski said. “In the summertime, we use four to five times more water per day than we do in the winter, so that huge reduction that we were able to do that is all outdoor water use.

“It’s probably something as a community we need to be better at. It is something that we lead Canada in, in how high our water use spikes in the summertime.”

The City began allowing drip irrigation at the start of this month following what was three straight week of reduced water usage.

Other enhanced water restrictions – like the ban on personal washing of vehicles and boats as well as commercial pressure washing – remain in effect for now.

“I think the community has done great. People are willing to sacrifice a green lawn a little bit for the greater good, I think, and that’s awesome,” Matkowski added.

“I also think its shown everybody including myself how much water does our landscaping and our lawn really need, because I know I personally was surprised with how long my lawn did well.”

Radio NL has reached out to the Ministry of Forests to see if there is a timeline when these restrictions could be scaled back.