John

TOFINO, British Columbia – Hotels, resorts and other businesses in this burgeoning rainforest tourist mecca on Vancouver Island have been told to shut down because of a water shortage.


Because of high demand and very little rain since July, the town's main reservoir is so depleted that there might not be enough water to fight a fire, Mayor John Fraser said Tuesday.


"That's why the panic's on," Fraser said.
A notice issued Tuesday said residential water service was being given priority in the picturesque town of 1,500 year-round residents.


"The WATER SHORTAGE has become extremely severe," the notice read. "All lodging, food service businesses are asked to shut down PRIOR TO FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2006 until further notice. Other commercial water users must not consume any water whatsoever."


Going into the Labor Day weekend, one of the area's busiest of the year, "we're communicating with resorts, asking them to contact guests and advise them they possibly don't want to come out there right now," said Leif Pedersen, administrator for the District of Tofino.
The town is getting water from a secondary source, Ginnard Creek, and residents have been told to boil it as a precaution. Officials also are working to have firetrucks haul water to the reservoir from as far as Ucluelet, about a 30-minute drive to the south, Pedersen said.


"It will be going on constantly," he said.
Ucluelet administrator Geoff Lyons said his town can spare the water because its fish processing plants have been operating at less than full capacity.
Tofino, just north of Pacific Rim National Park and about 210 miles northwest of Victoria, gets more roughly 10 feet of rain a year, but Pedersen said the reservoir is so low that "we don't know" how much water is left.



(The Seattle Times)

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