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Destination Conservation: Water Log

Source: Environment Network

Duration: 40 minutes discussion; one week of work at home; 40 minutes discussion

Group Size: Any

Setting: Indoors

Key Vocabulary: conservation, resources

Objectives:

  1. To monitor water use in their own home.
  2. To identify if their household is a water waster or a water conserver.
  3. To manipulate statistics in order to provide information about themselves.

Materials: Water Log Activity Sheet

Background: Canada uses excessive amounts of water. Money is wasted as unused water goes down the drain. The majority of people living in the Great Lakes basin do not realize how fortunate they are to have such a large water resource. As such, we take the abundance of clean water for granted.

What is Water Conservation?

Water conservation activities are essentially designed to do two things:

  1. To reduce the absolute amounts of water we use (less water per person or given product or service); and/or
  2. To reduce the rate (using water only when we need it) at which we use water in our daily lives - either at home, at work, in business or in industry.

In all cases, the goal of water conservation is to use our water resources more efficiently. Water conservation allows us to do the same task or job, but with much less water.

Why is water conservation important in Canada?

Water conservation is important for three reasons:

  1. Some regions of Canada are water-short due to semi-arid conditions. Dry summers place these areas of the country under additional stress.
  2. Other parts of the country, particularly the rural areas, often rely on groundwater as their sole source of supply. Excessive water use or withdrawls can lower water tables in these rural areas.
  3. And, finally, in many urban areas in Canada, municipal water utilities are experiencing limits on supply due to infrastructure problems either due to summer peak demands exceeding system capacities, or due to older sewer and water systems which are in need of upgrading or repair.

In all three contexts listed above, water conservation helps by putting less pressure on the existing water supply (and wastewater treatment systems). Reducing the rate at which we use water and/or the absolute amounts we use is the essence of what conservation is all about. It can help us "stretch" our existing reserves without having to invest in more expensive sources of new supply. This "frees up" supply, either to serve the needs of future growth (in population or industry), or to serve an existing population for a longer period of time.

How can water conservation be implemented?

There are many water saving opportunities available to consumers, industry and governments. Generally, three groups of actions are important - physical measures, economic measures and social measures.

Physical measures:
refer to alterations that can be made to water using equipment or processes.
Domestic examples include the use of low-flow shower heads, water conserving toilets, laundry facilities that recycle previously-used water, and the implementation of universal water metering in communities.
Industrial examples include the installation of water recycling equipment such as cooling towers, and process changes that lower the water use.

Economic measures:
refer to means of altering the ways in which users pay for the right to use water. Examples include revisions to municipal water rates to assure full cost recover, water charges based on quantities used, and implementation of volume-based charges for self-supplied industries.

Social measures:
refer to broad social policies and actions designed to lower water usage. Examples include revisions to plumbing codes, legal restriction on water use during drought periods and campaigns to inform the public about the importance of water.

What are the benefits of conservation?

In addition to "stretching" available water supplies to meet increasing demands, water conservation has distinct economic advantages. For example, use of water saving shower heads can not only save the homeowner the cost of the water itself, but also save over $100.00 in water heating costs. Furthermore, conservation retrofitting of an existing building could generate benefits ranging between 15 and 20 times the costs incurred presently. Finally, water conservation lessens the demands made on a vital natural resource, thereby contributing to the sustainability of the Canadian environment.

Green Home Tune-Ups The Environment Network of Collingwood, Ontario has developed a manual entitled "Explorations GREEN".

As part of the "Greening" of Collingwood, the Green Home Tune-Up program is a complete Environmental and Energy Efficiency Assessment of homes where they:

Assessors go to homes and examine it inside and out. They inspect insulation, check for condensation problems, check and tune-up hot water heaters (if necessary), and check faucets and toilets for leaks. They will also install free low-flow shower heads, faucet aerators and water saving devices for toilet tanks. They address health and safety issues, discuss composting and non-toxic cleaning products, provide information on household hazardous waste and explain how to have a beautiful "greener" garden.

You may want to suggest that the students have a Green Home Tune-Up done on their home or apartment. They can take statistics before and after the Tune-Up to see the difference that was made because of water conserving measures.

Procedure:

  1. Introduce the topic of water conservation using the information in the background.
  2. Have each person monitor how much water they use in one week at home.
  3. After one week, make a graph of how much water the entire class used. What is the average? range? median? of the total usage.
  4. Try to put the total numbers into perspective for them. (For example, how many showers would one person have to take to equal the total usage?)
  5. How can they cut down on the amount of water they use at home?
  6. Use numbers from their water log to figure out how much water they would save if they had:
  7. Convert the number to cubic metres (the unit of measurement used by the Collingwood P.U.C.). How much money would they save per month if they had all of these installed? (Water costs $0.26 per cubic metre.)

Extension: Have each person make a graph of daily water use vs. the number of people in their household. Then, determine the average use per person for their household. What is the range? average? median?

Resources: