Rimouski will ban washing its entrance with drinking water

(Quebec) The municipal council of Rimouski is preparing to prohibit at all times the cleaning of house entrances with drinking water. This measure, which goes further than in Montreal or Quebec, aims to save this precious resource in a region affected by summer droughts, but it arouses the opposition of some Rimouski residents.

The news was leaked recently by the Evening Newspaper : Rimouski is getting ready to tighten the screws on the “asphalt sprinklers”. Like several municipalities, including Montreal and Quebec, the City only allowed its entrance to be cleaned with tap water during a well-defined period in the spring, from April 20 to May 20.

But a draft by-law which must be put to the vote during the February 27 council meeting aims to prohibit it at all times. There will of course be some exceptions, such as during development work. But in short, it will be forbidden to wash your entrance with drinking water and the fines for offenders will be increased (from $150 to $175).

The news sparked reactions in the hundreds on the social networks of the Log The evening.

The rebellion is led by citizen Jean-Claude Roy, who believes that the municipality is going too far in regulating spring cleaning for citizens.

“It’s as if they asked us to clean the house in their own way or take half-full baths. It is part of the private sphere of the world, ”protests Mr. Roy, who says he agrees with the regulations currently in force.

The man launched an online petition which had around fifty signatures on Saturday evening. “The city of Rimouski, which I have recently baptized RIMOSKOV, is coming with too many bans and restrictions”, protests a signatory named Sylvain, before signing with a good feeling “priviet” (hi in Russian ).

Another signatory remarks that “washing once between April and May is not excessive and occurs at a time when the water supply is abundant”. He invites the authorities instead to “monitor the offenders who water their cedar hedge at night with [un] perforated hose”.

Jean-Claude Roy finds the draft regulation badly put together. He believes that using tap water in the spring to maintain his driveway is a “responsible” gesture of good neighborliness and good manners.

“I went to see the entries of the aldermen on Google Maps… It’s sad, sir, it’s sad. Even if they watered it, it wouldn’t change anything. It’s neglected, ”says the man who prides himself on maintaining his paving stone well. “I want to maintain it. Dandelions don’t grow in my driveway! »

A region struggling with droughts

The very personal turn taken by the case surprised Councilor Jocelyn Pelletier. This indicates that citizens who want to wash their entrance can continue to do so with rainwater, on days of precipitation or with water from a collection barrel.

“I was elected in 2017 and since then I have met a lot of delinquent people who we see almost every day watering their asphalt, deplores the elected official. Me, in 2023, to take drinking water to wash your entrance, I find it ordinary. »

The municipal councilor recalls that the Bas-Saint-Laurent has been struggling with significant periods of drought in recent years. Rimouski also had to serve notices prohibiting watering.

The municipality notes on its website that it has found that in summer during the watering peaks “our collective consumption was comparable to that of a city of 120,000 inhabitants, whereas we are 50,000 in Rimouski”.

Researchers from the Ouranos group predict a drop in the level of the St. Lawrence River and in the flow of rivers in the region. “These surface water fluctuations could have an impact on the drinking water supply in the region,” reads their most recent report on adaptation to climate change in the Bas-Saint-Laurent.

But since the lack of water is especially acute in the middle of summer and the watering of paved surfaces is already prohibited at this time, why extend it to spring too?

“We have to change habits. And for some people, spring lasts longer than for others,” replies Jocelyn Pelletier, who specifies that the elected officials seem fairly unanimous on the draft by-law that was prepared by city officials.

The elected official believes that the reactions of the citizens have been more positive than negative. “As for the petition, they could file it and we would take it into account. But for me, it is out of the question for me to back down on this issue, ”said Mr. Pelletier.