Vast majority of British Columbians support local water restrictions, poll suggests

OTTAWA — A new poll released Wednesday suggests 90 per cent of people in B.C. support local water restrictions.

Leger surveyed 1,512 Canadians between June 12 and June 15, including 206 residents of British Columbia. The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because it was conducted online.

The poll suggests 42 per cent of respondents from B.C. strongly supported water restrictions, with another 48 per cent saying they somewhat supported them. Seventy-one per cent of B.C. respondents said the water restrictions are justified.

Only four per cent of respondents somewhat opposed the restrictions, while three per cent said they were strongly opposed.

The poll comes as Vancouver enacts strict water restrictions that include banning the watering of lawns and filling pools.

Washing vehicles and watering lawns have both been banned since the start of May.

Seventy-one per cent of B.C. residents said they supported the restrictions on washing vehicles, 76 per cent were in favour of curbing the watering of lawns, and 69 per cent supported the ban on filling pools.

The only restriction B.C. residents didn’t seem to back is the one on watering vegetable gardens, which received only 38 per cent support in the poll.

“I think you get that, you get a little bit of like, you know, people trying to save a bit of money, so they push back on that a bit,” said Andrew Enns, executive vice-president at Leger.

“But yeah, I thought the most interesting element of those were just … that broad level of support.”

B.C. officials warned last month of an elevated drought risk through the summer because of low snowpack, early snowmelt and warm temperatures.

Asked whether they thought their region of the province had enough fresh water to ensure that restrictions are rarely necessary, only 31 per cent of B.C. respondents said they did.

The Canadian Research Insights Council, an industry organization that promotes polling standards, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2026

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press