Waterloo Region dedicates funding to water efficiency programs

Waterloo Region is committing to new funding to expand water efficiency programs in light of a capacity shortage. CTV’s Colton Wiens reports.

The Region of Waterloo has approved thousands of dollars to try to help homeowners be more water efficient.

The funding was approved during a special council meeting on Thursday; an additional $400,000 will be used to expand the number of free audits offered to the owners of homes and multi-residential properties who want to find ways to conserve water.

Money will also be used to increase the number of cost-sharing agreements the region has with businesses who are doing water saving projects.

Dan Meagher, Region of Waterloo’s supervisor of Water Efficiency, Innovation and Programs said there are dealing with a waitlist for those programs.

Council also approved a review of the region’s water usage bylaw. Currently, residents are being asked to limit outdoor water use to once per week during the peak-demand summer months.

Councillors suggested there needs to be a further step between the request and an all-out-ban.

Concerns and confusion around capacity

The meeting was dominated by questions and concerns about how much water is available in the community. Several council members asked if further water usage constraints are needed, or if they should consider increasing the cost of water in hopes of preserving current water levels.

• TIMELINE: Water capacity concerns in Waterloo Region

But, officials once again insisted there is not a current capacity issue. The problem identified in the Mannheim Service Area is expected to rear its head as the region continues to grow.

“I think there are still those in the community, including, potentially, some members of council, that still don’t quite understand that,” Meagher said. “And I don’t mean that as a knock. When we message that the constraint is not going to be resolved through conservation measures, we say that conservation is a good mitigating strategy. It helps the situation not get worse, so we can do the work needed to solve the constraint.”

Kirk Stinchcombe, a municipal water expert and founder of consultation company Econics, said the region is one of the top communities in the country when it comes to per capita water conservation.

“I am constantly using Region of Waterloo’s programs as examples for other communities,” he said. “To the best of my knowledge, the only other large urban community in Canada that has a comparable level of consumption is your neighbour, City of Guelph.”

Meagher said many residents already go above and beyond to reduce their usage, but it’s important to continue to educate newcomers to the area.

“If you’ve moved here from Toronto and you never really had any supply issues or any of these things, this is all foreign to you. You don’t even know what a water softner is, maybe, and how it uses water. We still have to keep that education outreach effort. It just gets a bit more challenging as the community gets bigger and bigger,” Meagher explained.

Money matters

Councillors also asked Stinchcombe about installing advanced metering on homes in the region, or increasing the cost of water at certain times. He said that metering can be a useful tool to identify homes that have a leak or need to upgrade the efficiency of their appliances.

However, he said increasing the cost of water can have negative effects on affordability and could reduce the revenue municipalities receive from water bills.

Mayor of North Dumfries, Sue Foxton, said many residents can’t afford their water at the current rate.

“In North Dumfries Township right now, we’re over $1 million in paying people’s water bills. So, to raise the cost, and people are also not paying their taxes – they can’t afford it. To raise the cost is to drive people out of their homes. So, I don’t think really that’s the solution,” she said.

Meagher was also asked about water usage at municipal golf courses like Rockway and Doon Valley. He said both courses have permits to take water from the Grand River and aren’t using the full amount that they are allowed.

“They go through the ministry to get that,” he said. “It’s a different source not connected to our system. It’s not relevant to our capacity constraint at all. Having said that, we do reach out to the cities, and we work with the cities and they have practices in place in terms of irrigation at the golf courses to make sure they’re not over irrigating or doing it at the wrong times of day when evaporation is high.”

While councillors were discussing cost saving measures and finances, Councillor Pam Wolf also asked regional staff how many consultants have been hired to deal with the water capacity issue in the region. Staff did not say how many people have been hired or how much money was spent.