B.C.’s Sunshine Coast declares state of emergency over drought
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SECHELT, B.C. – A British Columbia community has declared a state of local emergency as a drought drags on and the area risks running out of drinking water.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District, the District of Sechelt and the shíshálh Nation issued the declaration Monday, saying the first order affects non-essential commercial uses of water, including for swimming pools, breweries and concrete, asphalt and gravel businesses.
A declaration says the Chapman Water System is at “imminent risk” of being exhausted due to drought and it supplies about 90 per cent of the population in the area, about 70 kilometres north of Vancouver.
The Sunshine Coast is one of many communities in B.C. experiencing Level 5 drought conditions — the most severe in the province’s classification scale.
Weeks of unseasonably hot and dry weather have parched several parts of B.C. and both Gibsons and Sechelt within the Sunshine Coast broke daily heat records on Sunday.
There may be some relief on the way with Environment Canada predicting rain for the region by Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2022.
Note to readers: Corrects wrong word in third paragraph
