Post 69—Once more—Water

                    

Yes, once more: Water, that precious stuff we don’t think enough about.  

In previous posts I have indicated that too many people, that is, too many consumers of our piped water systems, are irresponsible in their use of water and fail to take measures to curtail its use.  While most of the time this may not be a threatening problem in our rain-forest province of British Columbia, in our current year of 2015, it did become a problem for all its residents because of a serious drought.   Fortunately, by early September, the crisis was over. In just a few days we had so much rain that it exceeded the normal average. Well, that’s our BC for you, a province we simply love to live in—and sometimes almost drown in!

However, before going any further, I do want to help spread the good news that, though there are plenty of irresponsible consumers—“rogue” users, as some call them—the Chairman of Metro Vancouver Utilities Committee, Darrell Mussato, announced “that this past decade, per capita water consumption has been falling.” During our 2015 crisis, Metro residents and businesses cut their consumption down to a level that the reservoirs had enough water to bring us to the fall even if there is no significant rainfall during that time. The subheading to his “Letter of the Day” was, “If the trend continues, supply will be ample for years to come” (VS, Aug 12, 2015).  That is good news, great news, in fact. It speaks well of consumers that, when pressed, many respond enough to change the direction of things. I am grateful that so many consumers are responsible and I want to publicly acknowledge it here. 

Mussato then writes a paragraph about the measures authorities are taking or planning to take in the near future to ensure adequate supply for a growing population. They will take into “account population growth, climate change, ecological health and the ongoing prosperity of the region.”  They plan to spend 1.5 billion dollars to expand our capacity for the future.  As a layman on the topic, this all sounds very encouraging to me and I wish the Committee every success in their careful planning.  So, both  responsible consumers and and a responsible public Committee. I sometimes shudder at what often appears to be inept and careless government authorities at various fronts, but I seem to have no reason for shuddering at the water front. That sounds hopeful for our future Metro.

One conservation measure that is under vigorous debate on both the positive and negative sides on the part of Metro members is that of water meters.  Some are already using them; others feel it to be too expensive—“incredibly costly,” as the Mayor of Coquitlam describes it. According to a regional engineer, it would “cost in excess of $10 million to install meters in 70,000 …homes in Burnaby and more to read the meters, bill residents and maintain the infrastructure” (Kelly Sinosky, VS, July 13, 2015).  That would be around $142 per unit installed. That’s cheaper than I had expected. Doesn’t seem that bad to me. Quite doable as far as I can see. I have always thought that each Metro community might borrow funds and charge each customer a couple of dollars a month to repay the loan. 

But it looks like that is not an acceptable arrangement to some. However, Metro does charge each member community a fixed amount per cubic metre, an expense passed on to consumers. So, even if not metred at the consumer level, the precious commodity does not come free.  The problem I see is that if your bill is the same regardless of the amount you use, there’s no financial incentive for consumers to restrain their use of water, a restraint most people will need to motivate them. Not many can be motivated by considerations of ethics and stewardship over the long haul, even though that should be the natural thing for Christians and adherents of most other religions.

All these discussions and issues are developing under the shadow of “Water scarcity crisis looms in BC,” according to Stephen Hume (VS, April 6, 2015). He points to the California drought as a warning about what is likely going to be the direction of things in BC.  We need to take the bull by the horns now, he argues. “Over the past 50 years, BC’s snow cover dwindled by 18% on average.”  The glaciers feeding the Columbia River have shrunk by almost 15%. He quotes some experts who predict “an impending water crisis” in Western Canada. “This means rethinking both how we live in BC and how we pay for it,” he urges.

In closing for the day, I add my “urge” to his and ask you to do the same. The bottom line is: We can’t go on this way. We need to change; tomorrow is just around the corner. Perhaps not my corner—I am 77--, but around yours and that of our children.  You have been brought up in care-free luxury, more than any generation in all of history. That’s not going to continue. Watch my word! But more than watching: Do something about it, both personally and together as a community—NOW!