Cities and towns that get water from the St. Johns' regional system banned the outside use of water Thursday in an effort to deal with low levels at the region's largest reservoirs.

The announcement came after the region's water services committee recommended the ban at a meeting Thursday morning.

A notice on the City of St. John's website says the ban affects St. John's, Mount Pearl, Paradise, Conception Bay South and Portugal Cove/St. Phillip's.

Effective immediately, the ban applies to:

• The watering of lawns (except new lawns).
• The watering of flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs, etc. (it's recommended that residents save and use household water for this purpose).

• The use of water for outdoor swimming pools.

• The washing of driveways and vehicles.

• The pressure-washing of windows and house siding.

Exceptions include:

• Commercial car washes.

• Commercial pressure-washing companies.

• New lawns for 60 days. (5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily).

• Commercial greenhouses and nurseries within their premises only.

The notice said rain in the last several months has been insignificant, and the latest long range forecast contains very little precipitation. Water levels have dropped at Bay Bulls-Big Pond and a second reservoir at Windsor Lake to levels where the plants may not be able to meet demand in coming weeks, resulting in low water pressure or loss of water in higher elevations, it adds.

Ron Ellsworth, St. John's deputy mayor and chair of the regional water services committee, said earlier about 400 million litres comes out of Bay Bulls-Big Pond a day. He said there's no danger of running out of water, but levels this summer are very low.

"The pond itself in mid-June was at about 25½ feet [7.8 metres]. And that's three or four feet lower than the average for this time of year," he said.

Ellsworth said that when levels drop, pumping water out of the pond becomes a problem, as does maintaining water quality.

"If the water's lower, then we have to pump the water up into the system and then get it pumped out into circulation," he said.

"As your pond gets lower, you need to be careful to make sure the quality of water coming out maintains your standard, which is national standards."

The regional council decided Thursday morning to recommend that municipal councils including St. John's, Mount Pearl, Paradise and Portugal Cove-St. Philip's clamp down on water use.

During the 2004 ban, people weren't allowed to water their lawns, trees or plants nor could they fill their pools, wash their cars with a hose or use high-pressure washers.