The City of Kamloops is lifting the enhanced water use restrictions that were put in place on Aug. 14.

Engineering Manager, Deven Matkowski, says it means restrictions on irrigation with sprinklers and automatic systems, as well as bans on vehicle, boat, and pressure washing have been lifted.

“All things you are able to do most normal years is now things you can do again now,” Matkowski said. “We are past the summer season where we used to have even and odd days watering restrictions so there aren’t even-odd day restrictions any more.”

Matkowski tells Radio NL the easing of restrictions come as the province has moved both the North and South Thompson rivers basins to Drought Level 4.

“That is not a good place to be and the river levels are still low, so conserving water is always a good thing,” he added. “We’re encouraging people that while you’re free to water, to still be smart about how you do it.”

Matkowski says the enhanced restrictions – which were developed this year – meant that over 500 million litres of water remains in the rivers to support fish and the ecosystem.

“We achieved that 25 per cent reduction and then some,” Matkowski said. “When you use something like a percentage, its like a per cent of what, so we were comparing it to last year’s averages and definitely that was achieved, which is a great thing.”

“We want to thank Kamloops residents and businesses who stepped up in a big way to help conserve water during the unprecedented and adverse conditions we saw this year.”