(Quebec) The city of Quebec is struggling with drinking water problems and intends to cut the rug out from under the lawn sprinklers, and the mayor is inviting you to open your heart to Klee.
Updated yesterday at 21:32.
Gabriel Beland The press
The capital wants to limit lawn irrigation to two evenings a week from this summer, and then to one evening a week from 2023. Watering when it rains should also be banned.
According to this proposal, which was unanimously approved by the municipal council on Monday evening, the irrigation of “a non-green outdoor area, such as a parking lot”, should only be allowed between May 1st and June 15th.
“We have been experiencing these problems for two years, problems that we have never experienced before,” said Mayor Bruno Marchand at a press conference on Monday.
The mayor of Quebec recalled that last summer the commune had experienced three critical episodes in which the drinking water supply was cut off.
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVE
Bruno Marchand, Mayor of Quebec
Studies tell us it came from people watering their lawns. We don’t mind people watering their lawns, but if that’s a problem with the drinking water supply for people in the city, that’s a problem for us.
Bruno Marchand, Mayor of Quebec
The new city policy also wants to award water features – which must be equipped with an on-call system by 2025 – and car washes.
long live clover
But it’s lawn watering regulations that are likely to affect most. According to Mayor Marchand, citizens need to change their behavior, particularly by favoring rainwater reclamation or planting clover on their lawns.
Clover has long been a nuisance to well-groomed lawn lovers. But for years, calls have been made for more tolerance of this herbaceous plant, which requires less water than grass.
It may be that Kentucky grass, that seed with which we have beautiful green lawns, is less and less popular that we mix clover among our lawns, for example.
Bruno Marchand, Mayor of Quebec
“There are environmental implications of treating water, making it potable, and using it to irrigate lawns,” he says. But beyond that, the first element is that we exceeded our critical zone of water supply capacity three times last year. »
The mayor points out that his administration is not currently considering installing water meters, although it does not shut the door on the idea. The city of Quebec gets most of its drinking water from Lake Saint-Charles.
“Like Dr. Arruda said let’s flatten the curve to avoid spikes,” strong and proud Quebec City Councilor Marie-Josée Asselin said Monday night.
Opposition independent councilor Stevens Melançon scoffed at the part of the statute banning watering when it rains. “I could give you a tour of the city with people watering their lawns when it rains,” Anne Corriveau, councilor for the first opposition, Quebec first, replied. It always upsets me, but it exists. »
The Marchand administration says it is not currently in repressive mode. Citizens should not be fined for “weeks or even months”.
“We have a team of students who criss-cross the neighborhood trying to explain to people why we’re doing this. It’s pedagogy. We don’t do this to piss people off. »
This isn’t the first time the Marchand government has taken an interest in grasses. This year, the city joined the May Without Mowers movement, inviting its citizens to let their lawns grow throughout May to help the bees.