Residents in southwest Ottawa will be able to use water outside on a rotating basis starting immediately.

The relaxed rules means residents can water their gardens, fill children's swimming pools, top up their rain barrels and clean out their green bins.

"Right now after hearing the news, even that one day a week is going to make a difference," said resident Jim Ivers, who watered his plants on Tuesday.

Splash pads in the area will also be open to the public on weekends starting this Saturday.

"Two pipes that we've been building are going to give us that extra capacity and give us that insurance that we won't lose our water system. But there is enough water at this point that we have the confidence to lift the ban partially," said Coun. Steve Desroches.

Although people are allowed to use water outside, there are strict restrictions in place about how water can be used.

People are still not allowed to wash their vehicles, use unattended sprinklers, irrigation systems, or top-up their swimming pools or hot tubs. That's because those actions use too much water.

People who live in Old Barrhaven, west of Greenbank Road, are the first to be given permission to use outdoor water.

The city has divided the affected area into various zones. Each of those zones have been assigned a specific day when residents are allowed to use water outside.

Four of the rotating zones are in Barrhaven and the fifth covers Riverside South and Manotick.

The schedule for outdoor water use is as follows:

  • Monday: Zone 1: Riverside South and Manotick
  • Tuesday: Zone 2: Old Barrhaven, west of Greenbank, north of Strandherd Drive
  • Wednesday: Zone 3: Barrhaven: Between Fallowfield and Strandherd Drive, and Greenbank to Woodroffe
  • Thursday: Zone 4: Barrhaven: Woodroffe Avenue to Prince of Wales, north of Strandherd Drive
  • Friday: Zone 5: Barrhaven: South of Strandherd Drive and west of Prince of Wales

The rotating schedule for outdoor water use will occur on weekdays only. The outdoor water ban will remain in effect on weekends, when there is peak water use.

If residents don't follow the restrictions and stick to the rotating schedule, the city could reinforce a full outdoor water ban.

"I assume we'd probably end up going back to a full water ban," Coun. Scott Moffatt told CTV Ottawa.

The city announced last week that the outdoor water ban would be completely lifted on July 15.

The water ban, which affects about 80,000 residents, was put in place in late April so crews could get to work on replacing a broken water main on Woodroffe Avenue. The water ban was initially supposed to last until mid-August.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua