New year-round watering restrictions in Kamloops are now officially in-effect.

City Utilities Services Manager Greg Wightman says the biggest change people will notice is when lawn watering will be allowed to take place.

“The major change, I think, for the city is moving away from the old even day/odd day system, where your watering days were based off of whether your address was even or odd,” noted Wightman. “The new system allows three days a week of irrigating under the first stage of the plan. That’s now based on your address.”

Wightman notes the new system is broken down into three groups.

“So addresses ending in 0 to 30, 31 to 60 and 61 to 99. Those are the three groups that we have,” said Wightman. “We weren’t able to do it by neighborhood the way that we do solid waste, for example, as it would put too much demand on the water system in one particular area.”

Once drought levels rise beyond a certain point – based on provincial standards – watering will be limited to one day a week, with lawn watering cut off completely during times of extreme drought.

Those caught breaking the rules $100 for the first offense, and $200 each additional time they’re caught breaking the rules.

However, Wightman says they only intend to hand out fines in extreme cases.

“As we saw throughout the year last year, the majority of people are really, truly trying to comply with the requirements,” Wightman said. “Rarely do we get people that are just so resistant that enforcement is the only option.”