Worst drought our region has ever experienced: expert

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The drought currently parching our region is the most severe we have ever experienced according to a watershed management expert.

UBC professor Hans Schreier says the province has a terrible track record when it comes to water conservation. “We are the second biggest water users. We have never worried about water. We have terrible regulations,” he explains. “You know we have never changed the water laws since 1909.”

Schreier notes new legislation is set to replace the Water Act next year and will regulate and apply fees to groundwater for the first time. He says climate change means more droughts in the future and we must change our habits now or face serious consequences.

Chair of Metro Vancouver Greg Moore says the region has been monitoring water for 100 years and it has never recorded a drought as bad as this one. “So we really haven’t seen this type of drought and consumption of water in our history.”

Reservoir levels dropped to 69 per cent capacity last week, levels that are usually seen at the end of August.

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