Slide the City in Nanaimo cancelled due to drought
Slides in North Vancouver, Kamloops still going ahead
Plans to turn a street in Nanaimo, B.C. into a giant water slide have been cancelled.
Nanaimo city councillors cancelled the Slide The City event given drought conditions in the region.
"I was really looking forward to it," said Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay.
McKay says the city's reservoir is still 86 per cent full. But with Level 4 drought conditions across Vancouver Island, council decided it was just too wasteful.
"We've just never faced conditions like this and we've got to keep our water and make it last until October probably," said McKay.
The company that organizes the 300-metre-long slide usually recirculates water, but McKay says the Island Health Authority balked at the idea.
According to Slide the City, if the water is recycled it only uses about 9,000 to 20,000 litres of it.
"That recirculates all day long and that water can all be recycled back, so in effect there's no loss of water on the day," said Slide the City organizer Tim McLeod.
The event in Nanaimo would have used 300,000 litres of water.
Slide the City events in Kamloops and North Vancouver will be recirculating water and are still scheduled as planned.
With files from Keith Vass