Going Green: Part 2 – Water Conservation


During my daily troll through the interwebs yesterday, I came across an interesting article about the flip-side of the coin in terms of water conservation. It describes the catch-22 situation that some municipalities are facing as they spread the word about water conservation.

The article is here: The High Cost of Using Less Water

It basically talks about how water conservation is costing the cities in terms of decreased revenue. As we install our low-flow toilets and stop watering our lawns, our consumption goes down. This is great for the environment, but now the cities don’t have as much money to do the necessary repairs on our water systems, and therefore it becomes more expensive. This big question is whether the cost of this will be passed onto the consumer. If it is, would it deter others from making those positive water conservation changes?

“Asked about declining water consumption, he told the Star:
“Conservation is killing us.”
Realizing what he’d just said, Curtis smiled broadly and quickly added that there were, of course, a thousand reasons to conserve.
But one thing is certain: Conservation is putting cash-strapped municipalities in a bit of a pickle.”

Here are some great links I found on water conservation tips. They’re both American sites, but the majority of the rules apply just as well to Canada.

http://www.monolake.org/socalwater/wctips.htm
http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/

I am happy to report that I’m doing pretty well and adhere to most of these tips. In the summer, particularly in August when it tends to get really dry in our area and we get drought warnings I go further. I already use the old saying “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down!” at those times (my granny grew up in California, apparently this is common?) and I think I may try capturing the excess shower water in buckets in the future.

So, what are your favourite ways to conserve water, and do you have any that you’d like to share?


2 responses to “Going Green: Part 2 – Water Conservation”

  1. This is one area that I can do better at too… I try but it’s hard to break old habits.

    Do you have HGTV (the Canadian version) ? On Sunday nights they have a “green” line up… I think there are a lot of nice tips!

  2. I don’t actually have TV anymore… I moved to a new apartment and my roommate and I decided to see how long we could go without it…

    And the cost savings were just so great that we never got it hooked up! I have been TV-free for almost a year now, but I don’t miss it as I download all my favourite shows anyway 😉

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