1. We have met our water
conservation goals.
Richard Hallett with
George Aldcroft & Wayne White
Comoxvalleywaterfacts.blogspot.com
Presentation to the Comox Valley Water
Committee
May 17, 2001

2. Why I got involved
• When I moved here in 2006 I saw that
unbelievable statements being made about
the water use here
• I have lived in several places in BC and did not
think the Comox Valley could be using twice
the national average or much more than BC
• With such a great water source I could not
believe that we had a water shortage
problem.

3. Advertising Campaign to justify
Universal Water Metering

4. Statements in the Water Meter &
Water Conservation Plans
The Comox Valley bar was our total water use. The BC and Canada
was for residential use only. Furthermore the data was very old.

5. Why did we need to cut water use by 27%?
• Our Total water use was 675 l/c/d (2004)and
to get down to BC average of 490 it would be
27%. This point was made on two Water
Metering studies.
• The 2008 total use was down to 564 l/c/d
• For the 2009 Water Efficiency Plan the
Regional District kept with the 27% cut but
explained it in a different way….

6. Bad Water Growth Assumption
6,000,000
7,000,000
8,000,000
9,000,000
10,000,000
11,000,000
12,000,000
13,000,000
1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029
Actual
License
CVRD Forecasted 2% growth
With Efficiency cut of 27%

7. 0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
-
1,000,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
4,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
7,000,000
8,000,000
9,000,000
10,000,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Total Water Used & Service Population
Comox Valley Water Service
Total Water Used M3 Population served

8. -
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Water usage (l/c/d)
3-year average to the date
Residential Other

9. Our water use is well within licence limits
• 2110 MDD was similar to 2007 and 2009 was similar to 2008. So we were up last
year but still well below our limits.
• Forcing 7 days of watering in to 4 days a week increases MDD.

10. The Cost of Conservation
• When the Universal Metering was killed the
funds were used for conservation instead
• Last year that was $0.12/m3 totaling $945,000
– Courtenay $560,000
– Comox $282,000
– Electoral Areas $106,000
• That is a lot of money, about $23.00 per captia

11. Conclusion
• We were tricked by bad comparisons and intensive
advertising to embark on Water Meters and
Conservation projects.
• We do not have a water problem
– There is lots of it, too much at times
– We have the infrastructure to store and deliver it
– We operate within our licence limits
• So stop spending those huge funds on conservation
and reduce the bulk water rates.
• Go back to the old water restriction bylaw – we are not
saving water – it just gets dumped into the ocean.