overview

guelph has a strong history of water conservation; it has one of the lowest per capita water consumption rates in canada. still, the average for the 22 oecd (developed) countries was, at 176 litres/capita day (lpcd),  22% less than guelph’s residential water consumption rate of 210 lpcd (453lpcd overall) (guelph water works water supply master plan draft, 2006). so, we still have much room for improvement. in fact, with guelph citizens' history of environmentalism and large number of local experts, why could guelph not become a world leader in water conservation? 

to supply future water needs, we encourage the city to fund of a best-practices/new practices research project, focussing on making guelph a world leader in water management, focussing on:

1. water conservation/demand management
2. smart growth
3. the further development of existing local supplies, but only within the limits of sustainability, where withdrawal does not exceed recharge

sources of further information on these concepts

• the polis project on ecological governance's "water sustainability project"
• oct 2006 publication: "thinking beyond pipes and pumps: top ten ways communities can save water and money":
•  website, brochure (shows the 10 recommendations), full report
• other polis publications on urban planning & demand management

related ideas already mentioned in the city's water supply master plan

the city's official 50-year water supply master plan identifies numerous ways in which we, as guelph citizens, can make better use of our local supplies without resorting to a long-distance pipeline. these include:

• taking advantage of rebates for installing water-efficient fixtures (e.g. low-flush toilets)
• installing rain barrels for watering lawns and gardens, as well as washing cars
• choose water-efficient appliances (e.g. front loading washers) and fixtures
• encouraging future housing and industrial developers to incorporate water reuse systems into their designs
• further development of existing local water sources

what you can do...