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Summer Outdoor Use Water Regulations
Apply June 1 to August 31 under City By-law

The City of London Water By-law W-3 is in effect each year from June 1 to August 31.

If your street address ends with a 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 you may use water outdoors on EVEN numbered calendar days only.

If your street address ends with a 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 you may use water outdoors on ODD numbered calendar days only.

Summertime Water Conservation Tips


  1. Water your trees, gardens or lawn early in the morning or in the evening to reduce loss due to evaporation. As a rule, most lawns and gardens require little more than two to three centimeters of water per week. To calculate the water being applied using a sprinkler, use a rain gauge or put a margarine container (with a 2.5 cm mark on the inside) out on your lawn to help track water usage. Timing the length of watering would allow you to gauge how long watering is needed to achieve your watering goals.  For newly planted trees, watering a 1metre square area with 2.5 cm of water equates to a 5 gallon bucket of water.  Simply apply the water slowly around the tree or create a small hole in the bottom of the bucket to allow the water to drain over time.  Re-think how much lawn you need.
     
  2. Naturalize your yard using native plant species to minimize maintenance, reduce costs and increase water efficiency. Selecting plants for their drought tolerance, and/or ability to thrive without regular maintenance in the climate conditions where they will be grown - xeriscaping - can reduce landscape water use by 50 to 75 per cent.
     
  3. Water your lawn for longer periods once or twice a week rather than watering every other day. This will allow water to soak into the soil and get to the roots of plants better.
     
  4. Your trees, lawns and gardens only needs 2.5 centimetres (one inch) of water per week to stay green, and rain water counts.
     
  5. Remember, rain barrels conserve rain water not subject to the Outdoor Water Use Regulations. The water is also better for your plants.


Reaching the full root system by watering in a circle area under the tree's branches

Please help keep London's trees
alive with watering techniques that optimize water conservation
The City of London is asking Londoners to water their trees - and those on the boulevard area of their property if these trees seem dry - to help ensure the trees continued survival.

Trees do not require much water only about 2.5 cm/one inch of water per week.
No water is a great threat - especially for those that are newly planted. A young tree will cost less than a quarter to water per week.*

Please make optimal use of water through conservation practices such as watering in the morning or evening to reduce evaporation loss.

When watering trees it is important to saturate the soil around the tree continuing out to the outer branches to disperse water down to the roots.

To reach the full root system of a tree you need to water in a circle area that extends from the trunk base to the outermost branches.

Unlike lawns which can go into dormancy and recover from a dry period, trees must have water to survive. Newly planted trees, in particular, are extremely vulnerable.

* A cost estimate to water a new tree with the equivalent of about 2.5 cm of rain per week around the tree base (1.5m radius) is 190 litres per week (0.19 m3) which at $1.19/m3 costs less than a quarter (23 cents per week).