Water Conservation During Level 4

August 6, 2025

Effective August 1 and until further notice, the City of Parksville along with the Regional District of Nanaimo water service areas are now at Level 4 water conservation.

The City’s operations department reviewed the 355 irrigation zones around the City and assessed each zone individually. Zones historically have not been set up to water just grass, just gardens or just trees which makes the assessment challenging. There are many zones where it is not possible to isolate different watering needs so care will be taken as complete shutoff has the potential to destroy trees and vegetation at a cost to the City.

For the public’s information, here are our first steps to reduce water consumption during level 4 without risking loss of trees and vegetation.

105 irrigation zones will be completely turned off. These are mostly turf areas but do include some trees and perennial gardens. This will be noticeable around the city.
146 irrigation zones will be modified to reduce water volume usage to 50%. These are areas that include garden beds, shrubs and sensitive trees.
46 irrigation zones on our sports fields at Springwood and Parksville Community Park will reduce water volume usage by 25% and like previous dry summers, a surfactant was applied to the turf to help retain soil moisture. The Water Service System Bylaw exempts sports fields from level 4 water conservation.
56 zones are unmodified as they are on drip or micro irrigation or have been damaged and under repair: generally, trees, gardens and hanging baskets.

Should further reductions be necessary, the City will look at the areas now at 50% reduction for either complete shutoff or reduce to 25%.

Detailed information about City of Parksville water conservation levels is available on Let’s Talk Parksville. The City is a partner in the Regional District of Nanaimo’s Team WaterSmart programs. Please direct questions to the City’s bylaw compliance department at bylaw@parksville.ca.

For more information:
Deb Tardiff, Manager of Communications
communications@parksville.ca; 250 954-3073