Water conservation still a low priority for Canadians: study
Posted Mar 22, 2011 06:16:16 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s World Water Day and an annual study suggests Canadians aren’t doing enough to conserve the precious resource. when it comes to conserving it.
According to the Canadian Water Attitudes survey, three quarters of Canadians admit to using the toilet as a garbage can with a whopping 83 per cent of Albertans saying they flush things that would normally get tossed in the trash.
General Manager of Halifax Water Carl Yates says that can be an expensive practice.
“If we have to do maintenance on a pump because it’s got too much dental floss associated with it all those types of things could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the run of the year,” he said.
Fred Wendt, Water Co-coordinator with the Ecology Action Centre, says people should be careful not to think of fresh water as a renewable resource that will always be there.
“Most Nova Scotians either know of somebody or have themselves experienced their well going dry,” he said. “It’s important that we pay attention to the supply of water that we do have.”
Yates says there are strong signs that people are starting to get that message here in Nova Scotia.
“Generally speaking we’re seeing at least one per cent reduction in volume year after year over the last 10 years,” he said. “In some years we’ve seen as much as two per cent. Actually last year we did see two per cent.”
