Water Conservation Notice
On July 3, 2015, the Province of BC declared a Level 4 Drought which is the most extreme condition. Attached is a Water Conservation Notice from the CRD for all water users.
Conserve
Our Fresh Water Supply Especially in Summer
....................
Water Conservation
With climate change no longer a debatable
question, water conservation and the health of our water systems
has never been so obvious or paramount.
On Salt Spring, we are in year 7 of our drought
-- a fact that many islanders are still unaware of. We're
perpetually at risk of shortages of clean, healthy water to
drink, to cook and to bath with simply because we are an island.
Despite this fact, the health of Cusheon
Lake continues to be compromised by at least, a simple lack
of information, and at worst carelessness.
We hope that this website clears up any confusions
while also providing some very useful, imperative and easy
to do tips.
Tips & Suggestions
Outside
- Drain your hot tub into a bathtub instead of onto the
ground and into the lake.
- Redirect rain gutters and downspouts to soil and plants
in your garden
- Avoid Over-watering Lawns and Gardens
- Composting reduces your garden's need for fertilizer
and helps soil to retain moisture.
- Use trickle or drip irrigation or soaker hoses for a
20% gain in efficiency.
- Limit watering your lawn much during the summer – it
will go brown but will spring back to life during the
fall/autumn
- Install an inexpensive plastic water collection tank
for gutters to drain into
- Cut your grass higher to increase water absorption and
to reduce run-off
Inside:
The Bathroom:
Economize your water use in the shower& bath
- Install water reduction attachments to all showers and
bathroom faucets
- Shower/bathe with a friend
- Limit your showers to ten minutes
- Only fill your tub 1/4 full
Toilets & Sinks
- Turn the tap on when you need to wet your brush and
off when you brush your teeth
- Flush the toilet only when necessary – if its yellow
let it mellow!
- Install low flow toilets or put a brick or two in the
tank of the old one
The Laundry Room:
- Only wash with a full load
- Use phosphate free soap
- Wash in cold water, save more energy and more money
The Kitchen:
Washing dishes by hand
- Turn the tap half on and wash dishes with soap &
water while it fills
- Fill the basin or sink half way and use this water to
soap up (with phosphate free soap) & scrub your dishes,
stacking them on the side
- Once all dishes are washed, rinse them under a half-on
tap and stack them in the rack
By Dishwasher:
- Fully load dishwasher
- Put in biodegradable & phosphate free soap. Often
you can use far less (i.e. half) of the soap you normally
would as Cusheon Lake has soft water which suds up very
easily
- Use as short a cycle as you can. Saves water and energy
- In the summer wash by hand using the above method
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