More Canadians limit water and energy usage

OTTAWA - Canadians are saving water both coming and going, from top to bottom, and from east to west.

The proportion of Canadian households using reduced-volume toilets more than doubled to 37 per cent from 15 per cent between 1994 and 2006, while the percentage with a low-flow shower head rose to 57 per cent from 44 per cent, according to one of two environmental reports Thursday from Statistics Canada.

“Households in Eastern Canada were more likely to use low-flow shower heads while those in Ontario and the West were more likely to use reduced-volume toilets,” it said, adding, however that Ontario led the way in the use of both.

Meanwhile, more Canadian households are also turning to programmable thermostats to cut back on their energy use, according to the other analysis.

In 2006, 40 per cent of households with a thermostat had a programmable one, up from just 16 per cent in 1994, it said. Of those with a programmed thermostat, 68 per cent were programmed during the heating season to lower the temperature while they slept while only 46 per cent of households with an unprogrammed or non-programmable thermostat turned down the heat overnight.

Programmable thermostats, though they’ve been in existence for about 100 years, have only become popular over the past decade, Gordon Dewis, author of the report, Thermostat Use in Canadian Homes, noted in an interview.

While rising energy costs are clearly a factor behind some of the heat and water conservation efforts of Canadians, the report suggests saving money isn’t the only consideration.

“Among households with thermostats, the likelihood that the temperature was lowered when the household members were asleep increased as the total annual income increased,” observed the report on thermostat use.

“Higher income, home ownership and living in a single-detached dwelling were . . . associated with greater use of water-saving fixtures,” echoed another report.

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Source: Canada.com

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“Empower Your Shower” Program Has 30,000 Participants Saving Water and Energy in Western Washington

BELLEVUE, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Puget Sound Energy announced today that the multi-utility “Empower Your Shower” program launched in July has already provided free showerheads and faucet aerators to 30,000 participants in Western Washington. The program will continue to be available to customers of all participating utilities – PSE, Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD), Tacoma Public Utilities and Cascade Natural Gas – through the end of the month.

Sandy and Mike Anderson, a SeaTac-based couple are one of the many thousands of households who called the “Empower Your Shower” hotline for a free efficient showerhead, which is designed to use up to 20 percent less water than standard types. “It’s easy to install,” said the Andersons, who are PSE natural gas and electric customers. “The faucet aerator that came with the showerhead saves us a lot of water too.”

Using less water also means using less electricity or natural gas to heat it–the second largest use of household energy–and the showerheads can cut the energy needed to heat showers by as much as 20 percent. The “Empower Your Shower” program also includes tips to reduce the use of water and other resources, such as taking five minute showers, and limiting lawn watering to 1 inch per week. Customers can expect to see a drop in their power bill when making these efforts to conserve both water and energy. To get the showerhead and aerator kit, customers of the four utilities can visit www.showerheadprogram.com or call 1-888-404-8773.

“Even a 10 percent reduction in water use can have an impressive cumulative effect,” said Cal Shirley, vice president of Energy Efficiency Services for PSE. If the average household typically uses 100 gallons of water per person each day and lowers that by 10 percent, they would save 300 gallons per month for each person in the house. Multiplied by the number of people who’ve already participated in the “Empower Your Shower” program, that’s a savings of 18 million gallons of water region-wide since the program launched in July.

“We want to get as many people involved as we can,” said Shirley. “This multi-utility effort gives customers an easy and effective way to live greener, smarter, and save money on their energy bills.”

If each of the 871,950 households within the combined service areas of the four participating utilities reduced water use by 15-20 gallons per household each day, it would result in a region-wide savings of 500 million gallons of water – enough to fill 750 Olympic-size swimming pools – in one month alone.

About Puget Sound Energy

Washington state’s oldest and largest energy utility, with a 6,000-square-mile service area stretching across 11 counties, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) serves more than 1 million electric customers and 737,000 natural gas customers. PSE, a subsidiary of Puget Energy (NYSE:PSD), meets the energy needs of its growing customer base primarily in Western Washington through incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service to deliver energy that is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and environmentally responsible. For more information, visit www.PSE.com.

Going underground with water conservation

Author: Pam Baxter

The most unusual entry I received in response to my “Water Wise” contest came from Susan Erb, of Upper Uwchlan.

“We have a two-acre property which is heavily landscaped, as my husband is an AVID gardener,” Susan wrote. “Since we have a well, we installed a (500) gallon cistern to collect the rainwater from our downspouts for our plantings.”

Susan said the cistern has a pump and a spigot, so that they can attach a hose to fill containers. But the story continued. “The excess rainfall goes underground and fills a pond, which we created. The pond is filtered and the water recirculated. It does not contain any plants or marine life, as the water level is predicated by the amount of rainfall. This water may also be utilized for watering.”
I have never heard of anyone being so conscious of not overtaxing their well when building a new house. So, when I met with them, I asked the Erbs what prompted them to install the cistern.

Susan told me that during the planning stage, their builder saw the existing gardens at their house in West Chester, densely planted with some unusual specimens. Knowing how much it takes to keep trees and shrubs well-watered, the builder suggested installing a cistern to catch and hold rainwater. “It was a good move,” Susan said. “It only takes a half-inch of rain to fill the 500-gallon tank.”

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Source: The Daily Local

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Xeriscaping Reduces Environmental Footprint

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - As Pennsylvania’s dry season arrives, many gardeners fear that their lush landscape will wither under scorching heat. However, a gardening expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences says smart landscaping practices can both save water and ensure the garden’s survival.

With dry weather conditions increasing across the country, Penn State Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardeners are promoting the use of xeriscaping, an innovative, low-water gardening system, throughout their communities to help deal with dry weather and promote water conservation.

“Master Gardeners are trying to encourage public awareness of alternative landscaping practices that have positive effects on the environment,” said Robert Kessler, extension educator in horticulture in Franklin County. “They also are working on water recycling through use of rain barrels, which will hold water until it is needed in dry weather.”

Trained by extension educators and faculty, master gardeners are community volunteers that cooperate with service agencies and community groups on gardening projects, while promoting environmentally friendly techniques.

Providing a sun-loving landscape ideal for dry climates, xeriscaping is a low-maintenance gardening technique that incorporates a wide variety of plants to create a lush landscape. “Xeriscaping creates a beautiful landscape with native plants that have low water requirements,” Kessler said. “Most of these plants do not require irrigation in dry weather, making ideal additions for low-water areas.”

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Source: Gant Daily

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Green Tip for Farmers: Use Cover Crops

Planting cover crops on the exposed soil of harvested cropland is one example of a simple yet very effective conservation practice.

Cover crops are usually planted in late summer or early fall soon after harvest is completed. Small grains like oats, wheat or rye are the common species planted. In spring, the over-winter cover crop residue is either tilled prior to planting, or in some cases the spring crop is no-till planted directly into the cover crop residues.

The establishment of a seasonal cover crop on exposed soil protects the environment by helping to reduce soil erosion and surface water pollution, and it also ties up unused nutrients so they cannot leach through the soil and pollute groundwater. Cover crops also provide benefits to the farmer by increasing soil organic matter, by providing natural weed suppression and by improving soil moisture management.

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Source: Daily Citizen

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12 Massachusetts Towns Join the EPA on Water Conservation Effort

DEDHAM/WESTWOOD/CANTON —The Dedham-Westwood Water District last week joined about a dozen Massachusetts towns participating in the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to promote water-efficient appliances.

The town, under the EPA program, will encourage local retailers to stock the products and residents to purchase them.

Sinks, showerheads and toilets that do not waste water are marked with a blue and green water droplet logo under the EPA’s WaterSense program.

Eileen Commane, executive director of Dedham-Westwood Water District, said the new program is similar to the EPA Energy Star logo placed on energy-saving home appliances.

“This WaterSense logo will achieve very similar results with consumers,” she said. “It provides more of an assurance that there’s been an independent evaluation of the appliance.”

By using water-saving fixtures, the average home can conserve 30,000 gallons of water each year, according to the EPA. If one out of every 10 homes in the United States upgraded to water-efficient fixtures, it could save more than 300 billion gallons and nearly $2 billion annually.

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Source: The Daily News Transcript

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Water Calculator Shows Your Water Footprint

The H2O Conserve Water Calculator is a web based tool that can help you calculate how much water you use on a daily basis, and more importantly, provide tips for how to use less.

The Calculator takes you through a series of questions about your daily life, from baths to tooth-brushing to lawn watering, and as you answer these questions gives you an estimate of the total amount of water you use, called your “water footprint”. The Calculator takes into account not only the water used in your home, but also the water used to produce the food you eat and the products you buy. Your water footprint includes other factors such as water utilized to cool power plants that provide your electricity, and water saved when you recycle. You may not drink, feel or see this water, but it makes up the great majority of your water footprint.

* It is important to recognize that the Calculator relies on national averages and approximations, and your results should be considered an estimate and not a scientifically accurate assessment.

* The Calculator does provide a general assessment of your water use, as well as the quantity of water used daily by the average American to give you an idea of your use.

* When you finish the Calculator, your results will show your total household water use, as well as the average per person water use in your household.

Water scarcity is a growing problem throughout the US and abroad, and it is crucial that individuals and communities make efforts to conserve and protect this precious resource. H2O conserve is a web-based project that offers tools and knowledge that enable individuals to make water conservation part of their everyday lives.

H2O Conserve is a project of ICCR, GRACE, Food & Water Watch, and the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future.

Source: URL Wire

For more information on water conservation, visit www.nuprana.com

Growing more with less water

EAGLE COUNTY — Crawling through the pastures at the Albertson Cattle Company in Burns, high above the Colorado River and on the edge of the Flat Tops Wilderness, is a 900-foot long sprinkler system that looks like a giant robotic caterpillar.

The caterpillar takes it time, slowly inching through about 80 acres of grass on big black wheels. Dozens of spray nozzles hang off its belly, and a large water gun is perched on its head. This crawling irrigation system is designed to apply the perfect amount of water so the grass can grow, be cut down and turned to hay without waste. It all works by gravity.

Just two years ago, these 80 acres of pasture were regularly flooded with inches of water to get the grass growing. When you flood fields, a lot more water is used than what the grass actually needs to grow.

Now, two “gravity-fed pivots,” or crawling sprinkler systems, do the irrigating. These “pivots” use about 70 percent less water than flooding but end up producing more hay than ever. “The productivity is getting close to double what we used to do,” said Kevin Wahlert, a rancher at Albertson Cattle Company.

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Source: Vail Daily

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California meeting explores water conservation solutions

SAN BERNARDINO- Susan Lien Longville says she got a “less than enthusiastic” reaction from developers at the inaugural San Bernardino County Water Conference last year when she proposed using wastewater from homes to irrigate lawns.  Longville, director of the Water Resources Institute at Cal State San Bernardino, said developers’ attitudes at this year’s conference was much more receptive.

Hundreds of people from local government, the building industry and water agencies gathered at the Ontario Convention Center Thursday to discuss solutions to the state’s looming water crisis. Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought in June, and a recent court order reduced the amount of water available to Southern California from the Central Valley and State Water projects.

Panel speakers agreed that there needed to be a coordinated effort to address the problem: builders installing water-efficient fixtures; municipalities passing ordinances to require permeable paving surfaces to reduce water runoff; homeowners cutting lawn watering by half and using water-controlled shower heads and water-efficient washing machines.  “Everybody’s in the water business,” said Celeste Cantu, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.

Schwarzenegger has set a goal for the state to reduce per capita water consumption by 20 percent by 2020. Several panel speakers Thursday said the goal was achievable.  Asked whether economic development and conservation can co-exist, Kirby Brill, general manager of the Mojave Water Agency, said “absolutely. … without a doubt.”

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Source:  The Press-Enterprise

Water conservation remains infrequent among builders

TAMPA — Finding ways to save energy is typically at the forefront for commercial developers and building managers looking to go green because of its seemingly never-ending rise in cost.

But one key aspect of sustainable building that’s regularly overlooked is water conservation, and it might take a heavier government hand – such as tying conservation and hurricane safety standards to the permitting process — to attract more attention to water.

“Despite it raining every day, we really are in a kind of water crisis right now,” said Mark House, managing director of Beck, a Dallas-based construction firm with an office in Tampa. “We think we don’t have a water problem. We’re surrounded with water on all sides, but we can’t drink it.”

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Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal

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