Editor:
Sitting here reminiscing about atmospheric rivers, I chose to revisit the SCRD 2021-March Water Meter Program report (reviewed in the April 15 2021 Coast Reporter), which contains platitudinal statistics on Gibsons and West Van post-metering consumption reductions: Meters meters everywhere, and recovered drops of gray water from the sink!
Diving into the SCRD data, one recognizes the limitations of bar charts, which state that 9 per cent of 5,762 SCRD residences (518 homes) each use “500+ cubic meters annually,” totaling 38 per cent of all water usage. Data crunching reveals the truth; these 518 water hog residences are actually using, on average, “1,200+ cubic meters of water annually”!! A shocking 3,300 liters/day! The SCRD report should have stated this outrageous fact outright.
To put said usage into perspective: the rest of us, the 3,700 typical residences (excluding the water hogs, and the 25 per cent that use little water), each average 230 cubic meters of water per year (ie. 630 liters/day). The water hogs, on average, each use more than five(!) times the water than the rest of us! No doubt some are using 10 times more.
One wonders, what do residences do with 3,300 liters of water every single day? The SCRD only says to the effect that: “they have suspicions but don’t know for certain”; “they are not looking to see, because of privacy issues”; and, “maybe people are washing their 20 cars every day!” Shouldn’t we expect more than muddy waters from our water stewards?
Water metering is necessary. Residences should pay a reasonable cost for safe water provisioning and system maintenance/expansion. But, given current shortages and ongoing failures to bring sufficient sources on-line, the SCRD would do well to report on its efforts to terminate all unreasonable water usage (leaks or otherwise) – that alone might leave us flush with confidence.
Alan Donenfeld, Gibsons
