Final Connection waiting to be installed- photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – The city of Prince George will  be under a watering ban from noon Monday June 12th to the evening of Friday  June 16th.

The ban  will still allow  residents to  irrigate gardens and lawns, provided they are using a hand held device, such as  a watering can or  nozzle on a hose, but sprinkling is  banned.

Why is a ban needed?

In the video  below,  City Engineering Department’s Hayley Sedola explains the  project:

The City is completing its twinning of  lines  to connect two of its major wells, Fish Trap Island,(PW660) and Wilson Park (PW605).  The restrictions are being  put in place  so the final connections  can be made.

The two wells provide most of the water used  in the City and building a redundancy between them  will help  protect the City  from any  future mechanical problems or  water quality concerns.  So if one well fails,   the other can be used as a back up to  ensure  residents have the water they need   and  there is sufficient  water  pressure for  fire suppression.

During the ban, , don’t be surprised to see  the City continue to water its sport fields,  or annuals planted in  civic gardens.  Those areas  will need to be  sprinkled  to  ensure  either a high quality of turf for sports  or to water  areas that  cannot be  done by hand.

Also, those  properties  which have their own wells,  such as the PG Golf and Curling Club, or private residences  with wells,  will not be  impacted by this ban as they  are not on the City’s water system.

The  twinning project has been underway for a year , and installing the final connections is the last  step before the  $3 million dollar project is complete.  The funding for this project comes from the  Water Utility Reserve fund.