Small Scale Suburban Water Conservation in BC
Celene Fung & Jacquie Belzile
Presentation Date: March 5, 2008

Introduction
A "soft path" approach to household water conservation involves three levels of participation:
1) Households – Modifications to existing homes and to water use behaviours of households.
2) Developers & Contractors – Construction of new homes or retrofitting of existing homes with water conservation technologies.
3) Municipality – Policy and building code support for conservation, ongoing communication with water utility, as well as education programs and tools made available to residents.
Effective water conservation measures can result from initiatives by any of these stakeholders, however the greatest conservation gains come from the synergy of all three acting to build a sustainable water vision for their community.

The aim of this presentation/class is:
1. To explore some integrated water management issues and solutions at the municipal scale.
2. To understand how small/local water conservation changes at the household/community level can have a significant impact on regional conservation efforts.
3. To illustrate local government water conservation programs.
4. To illustrate some innovative low cost household water conservation techniques.

Readings: Practical Ideas: Linking Municipal Policies and Programs to Actions

Framework:
Brandes, O. Maas, T. and Reynolds, E. (2006) Thinking Beyond Pipes and Pumps: Top 10 Ways Communities Can Save Water and Money University of Victoria: POLIS Project on Ecological Governance. (pp. 1-56)
2004 BC Water Conservation Survey Report for the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection by Alliance Professional Services & CV Marketing Research (Read Executive Summary pp. 3-9)

Development Tools:
LEED for Homes Rating System, click on Download the Rating System, link to get pdf. Read pages 8-13 the Rating System Overview and Checklist, then pages 45-53 on the Water Efficiency Category.

Case Studies: Example of a community's water initiatives and an example of a green residential building
Kelowna
Koos Corner

Supplementary:
1. Irrigation Calculator (Landscape irrigation model linked to climate and soil variables, easy to use and applicable to BC).
2. Vancouver


Questions to Think About

1. Moving from ideas and policies to implementation – What are some structural, operational, economic and, socio-political barriers that households, developers, and municipalities face?
2. What can be done to increase conservation at the household level?
3. What can the community do to support water conservation?
4. What can be learned from the case studies? What can be improved?


Class Itinerary

Part 1: Power Point Presentation (15 minutes)

Part 2: Activity: Plenary "Town Hall" Role Playing Discussion. Each group is a different stakeholder approaching household water conservation from a different angle and report out. (1 hour and 10 minutes)

Part 3: Class feedback on presentation (5 minutes)