Metro Vancouver’s lawn sprinkling regulations are taking effect two weeks early this year, but officials are hopeful the severe restrictions imposed last summer can be avoided.

Stage 1 water restrictions are set to begin this Sunday, and officials said they will last all the way until Oct. 15 if all goes well.

“We learned many lessons from the drought last year, and we’ve been reviewing our Water Shortage Response Plan with input from residents and businesses,” Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore said in a release.

“As a result, the lawn sprinkling regulations are commencing two weeks earlier this year and running two weeks longer because they have a profound positive impact in reducing consumption during the peak demand summer season.”

Under the rules, residential lawn sprinkling is allowed on even-numbered addresses on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Odd-numbered addresses can water their lawns during the same hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

There are also restrictions for non-residential lawns, artificial turf, and car and boat washing, but watering of flowers, vegetables, shrubs and trees is still allowed.

Metro Vancouver officials said the region’s water supply is doing much better this year than last, with snowpack on the North Shore Mountains recently measured at 60 per cent and the Seymour and Capilano reservoirs expected to be full into June.

If residents all obey the restrictions, officials believe there will be no need to escalate them to Stage 2 or 3. Stage 3, which was put in place last July, bans all forms of residential lawn watering, as well as car washing and pool refilling.

Roughly a billion litres of water is used every day in Metro Vancouver on average, and that number has historically reached more than 1.5 billion daily over the summertime.

“As we head into the summer of 2016, we encourage people to enjoy their flowers but not to waste treated drinking water on unnecessary outdoor aesthetic purposes,” said Moore. “When indoors, use your appliances more efficiently by washing dishes and laundry only when there is a full load.”

To learn more about Stage 1 water restrictions, visit the Metro Vancouver website. There are also tips on sustainable garden available at the region’s Grow Green website.