Durham Region in partnership with Tribute Communities, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, is attempting to define a new standard in efficiency in new home construction. The goal of this project is to establish new standards of water efficiency for low-density residential development
Many of the early generation 6-litre toilet models sold in North America performed poorly and failed to meet consumer expectations for flushing performance. Yet virtually all of these models met all of the prevailing performance requirements to become certified. Water utilities were concerned over the negative customer feedback they were receiving regarding toilet fixtures that they had encouraged (through rebates) their customers to install. In response, 22 U.S. and Canadian utilities and other water interests, recognizing that toilet certification did not guarantee a high level of performance, sponsored the development of the independent Maximum Performance (MaP) Testing Program. This is now considered the de facto methodology for toilet performance testing throughout North America.
In keeping with its newly adopted Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan, the Village of Lumby introduced a Stage-1 Water Conservation threshold that instituted water sprinkling regulations, a public education awareness program, and increased water-level monitoring for village wells.
The goal of this project was to look at how tourist accommodation operators on Salt Spring Island could adopt best water conservation practices. This tied into the 'Green Accommodations' initiative developed by the local Chamber of Commerce, one of the goals of which was to ensure that tourism on Salt Spring Island would become a beacon of environmental stewardship and a model for sustainability which the rest of the Gulf Islands could look to as an example of best practice in the industry.
The revised B.C. Water Conservation (Plumbing) Regulation, which took effect September 30th, 2005, requires that all new toilets installed in the areas specified below must be six-litre, low-consumption models.
It’s indisputable: water is in ever-mounting demand and diminishing supply. Yet, Canadians are some of the most gluttonous water users in the world. Many believe it’s a limitless resource and that the proverbial well will never run dry. But water availability, in a form suitable for humans and ecosystem functioning, is under pressure from increasing consumption and shrinking supplies through pollution, climate change and poor management.
Even though drought has been a concern in B.C. for the past number of years, a recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection and the BCWWA’s Water Sustainability Committee found that just one in three water utilities has embarked on a demand management program to reduce water consumption. But of the utilities that haven’t introduced a demand management program, more than half are considering doing so in the future. The majority (almost 90 percent) indicated that such a program would account for up to five percent of their operating budgets.
Municipal governments across Canada are beginning to take action to manage the demand for water, instead of seeking new sources of supply. Demand management, incorporating water efficient applications, is rapidly gaining popularity as a low cost, effective way to get more service out of existing systems, thus delaying or deferring the need for constructing new works. The benefits of water-efficient techniques apply equally well to rural, private wells and septic disposal systems, as they do to central water and sewer systems in the city.
