A clean and abundant water supply is essential for healthy people and healthy communities. Everyday, we use water to drink, grow food as well as keep our bodies and environment clean and free from disease. Likewise, our environment needs clean water to support the wide variety of life that keeps ecosystems healthy and functioning properly.

Canada is fortunate to have a lot of water, but for Calgarians, clean, abundant water is something we can no longer take for granted. The City of Calgary reports that ¡§Calgary's growing population, the impacts of extensive development within the Bow and Elbow watersheds, recent droughts and large agricultural demands downstream of the city are putting increasing stress on our water supply¡¨. (City of Calgary Waterworks and Wastewater, 2005)

There are four big reasons to conserve water:

• Healthy watersheds need sufficient water for fish, wildlife and plant life to survive
• Our water source is finite
• Our demand is growing
• New infrastructure for dinking water and sewage treatment is costly

The daily per capita water use in Calgary (i.e. the total amount of water used in Calgary each day (commercial, industrial and residential) divided by Calgary¡¦s population) equals about 516 L per person per day.  To accommodate the growing population the City of Calgary has estimated the average water use by Calgarians will need to decrease to 330 L per capita per day.

The good news is that making changes, such as using water meters, low flow fixtures and low volume toilets will help.  For example, the City of Calgary Waterworks and Wastewater reports that the average per capita water use in cities with universal metering is only 440 L per person per day.  So shifting to water metering alone will make a great difference.

For the family at home, sustainable water use means conserving water where possible and using it wisely when you have to.  Every time you take a shower, flush the toilet, or wash dishes, you have the opportunity to:

• conserve water,
• use less energy for water heating, and
• use fewer chemicals for water treatment.

Simple changes can have a large impact.  For example, changing your old toilet (the biggest water waster) to a low flow model can save over 52 000L of water a year!

The water conservation features of the Ecohome were designed to make reducing water use easy.  This way, the family living in the Ecohome will easily be able to conserve water without cramping their lifestyle.

(Text and Data provided through City of Calgary Waterworks and Wastewater, 2005)