Water Conservation Bylaw No. 1097, 2025 — full text, Burns Lake, British Columbia

This is an automated transcription (OCR) of the captured official document — minor recognition errors are possible; the source document governs. Snapshot 57157ec8d67d · verified 2026-10-18 · original document · archived snapshot · unofficial consolidation, the official version is held by the municipal clerk.

Carve your path. Village of Burns Lake Water Conservation Bylaw No. 1097, 2025 A Bylaw to Regulate Outdoor Water Usage and Promote Water Conservation ## THE CORPORATION OF THE VILLAGE OF BURNS LAKE ## Water Conservation Bylaw No 1097, 2025 ## A Bylaw to regulate outdoor water usage and promote water conservation within the Village of Burns Lake The Council of the Village of Burns Lake, in an open meeting assembled, hereby enacts as follows: ## 1. Citation: This Bylaw may be cited for all purposes as the "Corporation of the Village of Burns Lake Water Conservation Bylaw No. 1097, 2025. ## Purpose: - (1) Whereas Council deems it is important and necessary to set regulations for the year-round use and conservation of water; and - (2) Whereas Council wishes to prevent unnecessary demand for water through the Village's water system ## The following definitions are hereby applied: - "Authorized user" means the owner or occupier of a parcel or premises who has been supplied with water by the Village. - "Bylaw Enforcement Officer" means a person appointed by the Council of the Village of Burns Lake to enforce this bylaw. - "Commercial purpose" means the use of water for the normal operation of a lawful commercial service, occupation or enterprise, including water use for drinking water, food preparation, agriculture, sanitation, fire prevention, and, as necessary, to provide services to customers. "Chief Administrative Officer" means the person who has been appointed as such by Council. "Council" means the Municipal Council of the Village of Burns Lake. "Director of Public Works" means a person who has been appointed as such, or their designate by the Council of the Village of Burns Lake. "Domestic purpose" means the use of water for household purposes by the occupants of a dwelling for drinking water, food preparation, sanitation, fire prevention, or for the lawful keeping of pets and residential farm animals. "Fill" means to fill more than 25% of the total capacity of a swimming pool, wading pool, hot tub, garden pond or decorative fountain with water. "Official" for the purposes of this Bylaw an official includes a Village of Burns Lake Bylaw Enforcement Officer, the Director of Public Works or their designate, or the Chief Administrative Officer or their designate. "Occupier" means someone who occupies a premises. "Outdoor use" means the use of water for any of the following: - a) watering a lawn, flower or vegetable garden, trees, shrubs or landscaped areas, which combined do not exceed 0.4 hectares in size and which are adjacent to or on the same parcel as a dwelling or commercial premises; - b) washing a vehicle; - c) washing a driveway, parking area, sidewalk, or exterior building surface; - d) filling a swimming pool, wading pool, hot tub, garden pond or fountain. "Outdoor watering" means the same thing as outdoor use "Owner" means the registered owner of an estate in fee simple. ## 4. General Provisions: - (1) A person must not use water supplied by the Village: 2. (a) for any reason other than a Domestic Purpose, Commercial Purpose, Outdoor Use, or: 3. (b) in such a manner as to cause the water to be wasted. - (2) A person using water, or responsible for the use of water, supplied by the Village for an Outdoor Use must comply with the water usage requirements as regulated in Section 8 of this bylaw, which describes the Water Conservation Stages - (3) The owner or occupier of a parcel or premises which is supplied with water by the Village 6. (a) must not cause, suffer, or allow damage or deterioration of any device or mechanism through which water is piped or used for any purpose, which is likely to, or does cause water to be wasted; and 7. (b) must promptly remedy any damage to or deterioration described in (a) of which the owner or occupier is or becomes aware. - (4) Where the Village's Director of Public Works, or a Bylaw Officer, has determined that a provision of this Bylaw is being violated, that official may cause: 9. (a) an order to be issued to the owner or occupier of the parcel or premises to correct the violation at their own expense, within a specified time frame, and: (b) if the person to whom such an order is directed fails to comply, the Director of Public Works may cause the water service provided by the Village to de discontinued until the violating condition is remedied to the satisfaction of the Village. (c) a Bylaw Enforcement Notice to be issued to the person violating the provision of this Bylaw as per the Bylaw Notice Enforcement Bylaw. - (5) If an order under (4)(a) is issued, the Village will make reasonable attempts to notify the owner and occupier before discontinuing service as per (4)(b). - (6) Any owner or occupier whose water service is to be discontinued or has been discontinued, may arrange with the Chief Administrative Officer to make a representation to Council about the matter. Council, upon hearing such representation, may confirm, vary or cancel the order given through (4)(a). - (7) If a person subject to an order under this Bylaw fails to complete the required action, the Chief Administrative Officer may arrange for the fulfillment of the Order at the expense of the owner or occupant of the property where the violation has occurred. The Village may recover the costs incurred from the owner or occupant as a debt. If the debt has not been paid by December 31s of the year in which it was accrued, then the Village may collect the amount owing from the property owner in the same manner as for collecting unpaid property taxes. - (8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Bylaw it shall be lawful for the Director of Public Works to, at any time, restrict or ration the use of water for any and all purposes. Such restrictions shall be referred to as a Water Conservation Stages and notification of the implementation of the water conservation stage will be provided to the public through any of, but is not limited to, social media, newspaper, newsletter, internet web pages, and public electronic notification systems. - (9) The Director of Public Works may give notice or cause notice to be given of the implementation of one of the water conservation stages in s. (10). The notification provided shall indicate which water conservation stage is to be implemented, what the restrictions are and the commencement date of the restriction, and every owner or occupier, or authorized user must comply with those restrictions. - (10) For the purposes of conserving water, the following Water Conservation Stages apply to the use of water for outdoor use within the Village of Burns Lake: (a) Stage 1 - Every Other Day Watering. This stage is described as, but is not limited to, outdoor water usage only being allowed at even numbered properties on even numbered calendar days and only between the hours of 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. and between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. or, conversely; outdoor water usage only being allowed at odd numbered properties on odd numbered calendar days and only between the hours of 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. and between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. - (b) Stage 2 - Hand Watering Only. This stage is described as, but is not limited to, times of stress on the Village water system and where no person shall use a sprinkler or irrigation system to water a lawn, garden, trees or shrubs; and where washing driveways, sidewalks, parking lots or exterior building surfaces is prohibited. Watering vegetation or washing a vehicle may only be permitted by a handheld container or with a hose equipped with a shut off nozzle. A person must not fill a swimming pool, wading pond, hot tub, garden pond or decorative fountain with water during Stage 2 - Hand Watering Only. Every other day watering rules shall also apply during Stage 2. - (c) Stage 3 - Outdoor Watering Prohibited. This stage is described as an extreme stage where a person must not conduct any outdoor watering using the Village's water system at any time. ## Rights of Entry, Inspection, Examination and Analysis: - (1) For any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this bylaw, an official may enter, at any reasonable time, any private land or property other than a dwelling to determine compliance with this Bylaw or to determine compliance with an Order made under this Bylaw. - (2) An official who enters private land or property as in 6(1) may inspect anything or any activity that is reasonably related to the purpose of the administration or enforcement of this bylaw. - (3) No person shall obstruct an official in the lawful exercise of a power or duty under this bylaw. ## Enforcement - (1) Every person who fails to comply with the General Provisions of this Bylaw commits an offence under this Bylaw. 2. (2 Every person who obstructs an official under 6(3) of this Bylaw commits an offence under this Bylaw. - (3) Any person who commits an offence under this bylaw may be issued a Bylaw Enforcement Notice, with a fine specified in the Corporation of the Village of Burn Lake Bylaw Notice Enforcement Bylaw. - (3) In the case of offences of a continuing nature, an offence is committed on each day during which the offence continues, and the maximum penalties imposed under this bylaw apply to each such offence. - (4) Nothing in this bylaw limits the ability of the Village to pursue other legal remedies to enforce this bylaw. ## 8. Full Force and Effect: This Bylaw has full force and effect from the date of adoption until amended, repealed, or replaced. READ A FIRST TIME THIS 2ND DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2025 READ A SECOND TIME THIS 2ND DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2025 READ A THIRD TIME THIS 2ND DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2025 ADOPTED THIS 16TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2025  MAYOR finlagers  Certified to be a true copy of "The Corporation of the Village of Burns Lake Water Conservation Bylaw 1097, 2025.