I think it’s fair to say that Winnipeg is blessed when it comes to water. We hardly even think about it. It’s just there when we turn on our tap.
A lot of energy is tied up in every drop of water that is delivered to our tap and ultimately collected and discharged to our rivers.
Our water supply, which comes from Shoal Lake (roughly 135km east of the city), is only one part of the energy equation.
Construction of Shoal Lake Aqueduct (Credit City of Winnipeg)
Luckily it's delivered to us through gravity and so the energy required to bring it to our city’s doorstep is relatively minor. Energy inputs really start at our new water treatment facility, (which is expected to be online sometime this year). Energy is used to filter and disinfect the water and pressurize the water mains that deliver the potable water to our houses. Because the water supply is pressurized, we are able to simply open up our taps and the water is available. Nothing else is required of us.
The energy inputs don’t stop there, however. Once the water is used, it disappears down our drains and is collected by our sewers. These sewers normally flow by gravity to our wastewater plants, but some areas of the city have to be pumped which also takes up energy. The final energy input is at our wastewater treatment plants which filter, process and disinfect the wastewater before emptying it into our rivers.
So what can we do?
We can focus our attention on water conservation. The chart below shows that just over half of our water is used in the home (residential) and roughly one third is used for commercial and industrial applications. A portion is also non metered. This non metered is why we need to keep the water supply system in a state-of-good-repair. It’s not just water that is being lost, it is also all the energy inputs.
City of Winnipeg Water Usage by User Group (Credit City of Winnipeg)
If we drill down even further into a typical home, we see that the largest uses of water are toilets (32%), showers (20%) and washing machines (18%).
City of Winnipeg Residential Indoor Water Use (Credit City of Winnipeg)
The City of Winnipeg’s water conservation web site includes a lot of helpful tips on how to save water in our homes - including information on low flush toilets and water saving shower heads. They also sell water conservation retrofit kits. This water conservation program has been so successful that the city now delivers only 75% of the water that it used to deliver in the 1990s. More, however, can be done and is being done.
City of
The USEPA has developed a new program called Water Sense which is a labeling system for new water efficient appliances including toilets, faucets, dishwashers and clothes washers. It is very similar in concept to the Energy Star program that promotes energy efficient electrical appliances and equipment. A similar program is currently being developed for
Saving water saves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Being more efficient with our water helps us adapt to climate change. Stable consumption levels also help to eliminate or defer expensive upgrades or new construction of water facilities. Every dollar spent on water efficiency yields multiple environmental and energy benefits and allows us to become a more sustainable society.
What's your perspective on water conservation?
Links:
Slow the Flow: http://www.winnipeg.ca/WaterandWaste/water/conservation/default.stm
Water Sense EPA: http://www.epa.gov/watersense/index.htm
Energy Star: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/energystar-portal.cfm
CWWA: http://www.weao.org/events/pdf/CWWA/043-CWWA.pdf
