When I was asked to write a blog post for Sustainable Kingston about water conservation, I thought “Sure, why not? It’s my job to talk about and promote conservation!” But once I started writing, I realized that there are a number of reasons you should save water, not the least of which is because it’s a finite resource.

So let’s chat about some reasons that saving water is a good thing.

Getting quality water from a water treatment plant to your house takes energy – in Kingston’s central area, it takes about 0.3 kWh (kilowatt-hours) to pump one cubic metre of water (that’s 1000 litres). A few years ago, we completed an internal  survey to learn how much water each household uses – according to the survey, the average person uses about 135 litres of water each day (for your information, that’s over 100 litres per day LESS than the average Ontarian, according to statistics from 2011).

Since our office water consumption is pretty low, let’s use an average of our number and the province’s: 193 litres of water per person, per day. That works out to about 21 kWh per person, per year, for fresh water pumping alone, or 825,000 kWh for all of Utilities Kingston’s 39,000 customers in 2018.

According to the Ontario Energy Board, the average Ontario home uses about 750 kWh of electricity each month, or 9,000 kWh each year. So it takes the equivalent of about 90 homes’ annual consumption of electricity just to pump and treat water from the lake and then get it to your faucets (we’re not even talking about how much energy it then takes to then pump the “used” water from you house to a wastewater treatment plant, treat the water, and then pump it into the river, in the form of natural-resource quality water).

So?

The Ontario electricity grid is relatively clean, meaning there aren’t [as] many emissions [as there used to be] as a result of producing electricity. We get the majority of our electricity from nuclear plants, which produce a steady supply of electricity for our regular loads. However, during the very hot summer days, or the very cold winter days, we require extra generation to meet load requirements (like air conditioning and space heaters). For this, we turn to natural gas power plants. For every kWh of electricity produced using natural gas, about 0.53kg of CO2 is released. So, depending on provincial electricity requirements and generation source, using water can mean more emissions.

Moving on to other reasons to conserve, let’s keep thinking about the timing of when you use water. 

Kingston still has some combined sewers. This means that the same pipes that collect rainwater and storm runoff, also collect wastewater from your home, work, or school. When there’s a heavy rain, these pipes can get overloaded and unfortunately, this untreated wastewater can enter local waterways. These combined sewer overflows (CSO) were designed as a type of relief valve, so that untreated wastewater doesn’t back up into basements. (FYI – Utilities Kingston has on its website a Sewer Overflow Map that shows where any overflows have occurred – after a heavy rain, it’s a good idea to check this before going for a swim or paddle!).

Next time there’s a heavy rain, think about the combined sewers, and their capacity – you can help to reduce the likelihood of overflows by delaying laundry, washing dishes, showering, or other tasks that use a bunch of water at once, during those times. This keeps water out of the pipes that are at (or near) capacity during a rainfall, and helps reduce sewer overflows into local waterways.

It should be noted that these overflows aren’t unique to Kingston. It is a historical problem that can happen anywhere there are combined sewers (the City of Toronto is currently developing a multi-year, multi-billion dollar plan to reduce combined sewer overflows). Utilities Kingston and the City of Kingston have been working hard to reduce sewer overflows in Kingston through sewer separation projects and other source control strategies.

Reducing water usage also helps Utilities Kingston delay the need to build new water and wastewater treatment plants, and helps extend the life of infrastructure. Thus, conserving water is good for rate payers!

What are some ways that you can save water (and money) at home?

• Take shorter, five minute showers

• Regularly check your toilet for leaks (pick up some free dye tablets from Utilities Kingston’s office at 85 Lappan’s Lane – put a tab in the tank of the toilet, then wait a few minutes. If the colour from the dye shows up in the bowl, you know there’s a leak).

• Turn the water off while brushing your teeth.

• Use a dishwasher. Delightfully, modern dishwashers actually use LESS water than washing by hand! Just make sure you’re running a full load, not just a few glasses and plates.

• Don’t use water to rinse off your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher – scrape things off right into your green bin (making sure that you’re not putting unacceptable things in there).

• Don’t use treated water to hydrate your garden – get a rain barrel from Utilities Kingston, delivered right to your door (note: these are only available from May-September).

• Plant a drought-tolerant garden: visit Utilities Kingston’s water conservation garden in person, or check out the online database of plants that are happy with less water.

• For other tips and tricks, visit Utilities Kingston’s conservation tips page.

• Got any other great ideas, that aren’t on the website? Email them to conservation@utilitieskingston.com