JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report
As the weather warms up and plants begin to grow, residents in Vaudreuil-Dorion are taking issue with a recent city bylaw, banning them from using potable water to water their lawns.
The new restrictions are included in an update of a 2022 bylaw, which had significantly limited the times residents are permitted to water their lawns using city water, replacing it with a blanket ban. This updated bylaw went into effect at the start of the new year. Only those with a permit from the city are allowed to water their lawns with potable water.
Mayor Paul Dumoulin received several comments, sometimes veering into a heated exchange, from residents who are upset with the change.
Resident Lina Maiorano, one of several who spoke out at Monday’s council meeting, suggested the city use a more gradual approach, “and you wean us into not watering our grass.”
“By then, maybe I’ll be dead, because I don’t like yellow grass,” she added, receiving applause from some in attendance.
Others criticized the fact that they felt the city came up short in communicating this bylaw change, feeling that it was dropped on them without notice.
While Dumoulin agreed the city could have been more effective in communicating, he said the objective is necessary in the fight against climate change.
“We talk all the time about climate change, climate change,” he said. “But we have to make decisions. We made them.”
He also noted that the Quebec Water Strategy 2018-2030 and the Quebec Drinking Water Conservation Strategy 2019-2025 requires municipalities to reduce their water consumption.
In the summer, the average Vaudreuil-Dorion resident uses about 600 litres of water a day, Dumoulin said. “With the statistics that we have, we need to reduce our water consumption by 20 per cent per person. We are obliged by the law to get there.”
Residents are able to apply for permits to water their lawns under certain circumstances, including seeding a new lawn or laying down sod. Permits will not be accepted any time during the months of July or August.