We wish to express our support for the installation of water meters in Kamloops and urge the mayor and councillors to demonstrate their support by voting in favour of water meters. It is the right thing to do in Kamloops at this time.
The City of Kamloops states that a Kamloopsian consumes an average of 800 litres of water per day.  Swedes use just 200 litters per person per day – and their lifestyle is similar to ours. Moreover, the average British Columbian uses just over 400 litters of water per day.  In 2004, the average Canadian used 329 litters of water per day according to the Real Estate Institute of Canada.  Wasting all that water has many impacts – not the least of which is upon our pocket books when we are forced to pay for costly upgrades and extensions to our water delivery systems.

Kelowna began installing water meters in the middle 1990s. Their average water consumption per capita per day has dropped to 400 litters per day since then. The installation of water meters in Kamloops combined with educational programs would drop water consumption in Kamloops to similar levels. Not only would that be good for the environment, it would benefit our bank accounts. The water treatment plant cost millions: increasing its capacity would cost millions more.  Wouldn't it make more sense to use less water instead of squandering our tax dollars?

Wasting water also has environmental impacts. We return less water than we remove to the ecosystem — and the water returned is of a lower quality than that withdrawn. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, that bastion of environmental concern, states “high (water) consumption places stress on rivers, lakes and groundwater aquifers and may require dams and flooding with serious ecological impacts.”

We urge the City of Kamloops to do the right thing: please vote in favour of installing water meters.

JAN GREENWOOD, Chair

Social and Environmental Committee

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Kamloops