dry all over

[Guest guest]

Drought to Shut Down Canadian Rain Forest Resort

 

August 31, 2006 — By Reuters

OTTAWA — A well-known resort town in a Canadian Pacific rain forest must

shutter its hotels and businesses this week because a prolonged drought has

slashed water supplies, officials said Wednesday.

 

Tofino, perched on the tip of Vancouver Island on Canada's Pacific coast, is in

a picturesque region that is popular with surfers and whale watchers. It relies

on rainwater to fill its main reservoir, and officials ordered the shutdown

because there has been no significant rainfall since June.

 

" We just don't have the water to offer them, that's all there is to it, " Tofino

mayor John Fraser told CBC television, noting the town was experiencing its

third driest year on record and had ordered businesses to shut from Friday.

 

" We normally end up getting a good rain sometime along the way (to) bail us out.

But this year has just been different ... the weather forecast for the next two

weeks, even two months is still continued dry without prospect of rain, " said

Fraser.

 

Local hotels, restaurant and businesses complained that the closure would cause

big losses, since it comes at the start of the popular three-day Labor Day

weekend.

 

One local businessman said Tofino had regularly experienced problems with water

supplies in previous years, in part because of a boom in tourism.

 

" Water has been a major issue in Tofino ... because of the fact that (in summer)

15,000 to 20,000 people are in a town that normally holds 1,500, " Laird Salton

told CBC.

 

The town has switched to a secondary supply and is advising residents to boil

drinking water.

 

 

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