CORNWALL, Ontario – City councillors approved a new bylaw that will limit the days you can use a lawn sprinkler on your property – but it will only concern itself with this summer.
City council Monday night agreed to the drafting of the bylaw which will make it illegal for you to water your lawn on certain days of the week.
The plan was for the bylaw to remain in effect into the future, but will now only concern itself with this summer while improvements are made to the Cornwall water tower.
The new bylaw breaks down like this: outside use of water for things like your lawn is only permitted at your home on even calendar days if your address ends in 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8.
The same applies for odd calendar days if your home address ends in 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9.
Breaking the new bylaw will result in a fine of $300.
This summer the city will recoat the outside of the massive municipal water tower on Tollgate Road.
With the 4.5 million-litre structure offline during the maintenance the city will rely on other parts of the delivery system to ensure adequate water pressure for homes and businesses, as well as firefighting.
But with the tower offline the volume of water the city can supply at peak periods will be reduced. The work is expected to take about eight weeks.
Infrastructure manager John St. Marseille said in an interview that people who turn their sprinklers on so that children can play under the streams of water will not be targetted.
“We still want children to be children,” he said. “We will be looking at flagrant instances where water is being wasted.”
