May 15, 2008
Take steps towards better water conservation
With relatively easy access to clean and potable water, British Columbians are still far too wasteful with this natural resource.
Karen Wristen, executive director of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, lives on Bowen Island, and is a firm believer in the importance of water conservation in B.C. Indeed, many of her fellow islanders have showers that are fed by rainwater collected in rain barrels.
Spec's Karen Wristen's conservation tips
• Get the sprinklers on a timer if you are going to use them, or at least use the old tuna-can technique on the front lawn: stop when you get an inch of water on your front lawn.
• Don’t water your lawns as often as you may be inclined to, as they should be able to survive with once-weekly watering.
• Every home should have a rain barrel. It only takes one good rainstorm to fill it.
• When buying a washing machine, select one which uses less water and energy.
• When waiting for hot water to come through the pipes, save the cooler water for watering the plants.
• Turn the shower off while you are shampooing your hair.
• Check for water leaks by reading the house meter before and after a period of time when there has been no water use, and check to see if there are different readings. If so, there is a leak.
“I know a few who have showers that are used on a regular basis,” Wristen said. “I know that there are hundreds of homes with rainwater collection on Bowen. I would be really surprised if there are not more that are operating showers, at least in the summertime.”
Although asking Vancouverites to start showering in their back yards might not be an easy sell, Wristen is adamant that the city needs
across-the-board water metering to
conserve this precious resource.
“We should definitely be introducing metering, sooner rather than later, so we can get a handle on what we are actually consuming,” Wristen said.
Currently, according to Phil Karlsson at City of Vancouver water operations, only commercial, industrial, and multifamily residential buildings are metered in Vancouver. Karlsson claimed this “captures two-thirds of water usage” in the city, which leaves out the other third in the single-family homes.
Kitsilano drinking-water advocate Mary Johnston said prudent water use is “all mindset”.
Johnston cofounded WaterMatters, which advocates local drinking water instead of bottled water products. She says that even conservation novices can take advantage of the City of Vancouver’s indoor and outdoor water-saving kits, for $12 each (details at www.vancouver.ca/).
For toilets, a toilet-tank bank saves water and money as it displaces water from the system that would otherwise get flushed down the drain.
An outside water timer prevents overwatering and is included in the city’s outdoor kit, along with hose washers (for hose leaks), sprinkler gauges, and heavy-duty, eight-pattern hose spray heads.
Wristen said, “The other thing that has not progressed is changes to the building code to allow grey water to be pumped back through toilets. That would be another great one to do, but it’s not going anywhere.”
Grey water is secondhand water that has already been used in the household, as opposed to brown water which comes from solid waste.
Wristen said that Australia currently permits grey-water use and other Canadian provinces also allow it, although it is not mandated in Canada.
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