It’s Environment Week – How Water Smart Are You?

It’s Environment Week, June 3-9, 2012 – a great reminder to glance back at the path behind you to assess your carbon footprint.  This year’s theme is Take Back the Tap – and we’re being encouraged to do what we can to ensure the next generation enjoys the same clean, pure water that we do.

Simple changes in some everyday habits can make a big difference in making sure the water coming out of your kitchen faucet stays pure.

- put a strainer style cap in your drain and dispose of any solid matter in the garbage or compost

-compost organic (vegetable, fruit waste, etc.) scraps and other such material instead of using the garburator

-never pour used oil of any sort in any drain.  Instead take it to a collection site.

-avoid the use of pesticides and fertilizers on your lawn

-water plants only when necessary

-reduce or eliminate bottled water

Did you know that the bottled water industry is not regulated?  Whereas tap water production is held to exacting and stringent quality standards.  Invest in BPA free (a dangerous chemical found in some plastic water bottles) water bottles that you can refill for when you’re on the go.  If you don’t like the taste of your tap water there are filters available for under the counter installation and others you can put right into the water bottle itself.

Other simple ideas to conserve a healthy water supply (and save money to boot!):

-keep a pitcher of drinking water in your fridge

-install a low-flow toilet

-turn off the tap while brushing your teeth

-run the dishwasher and washing machine only on full loads

-check taps and toilets for leaks and repair them promptly

- take shorter showers

Are you practising some or all of these habits already?  Which ones?  Comment here on the blog and let me know.  Thanks to Betty Sheppard who emailed me to let me know that according to an instructor at one of the city’s Food Safety courses, Edmonton has North America’s cleanest tap water, confirmed by Betty’s husband, a former waste/wastewater technician.

A sustainable water supply means we have to take care of our lakes, streams, rivers and watersheds.  So it’s ironic that Bill C-38 is on the table in Ottawa right now.  Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is proposing to relax environmental laws and scrap many programs that monitor and regulate what big industry and polluters can do.  World renowned University of Alberta scientist David Schindler has joined a chorus of academics in an open letter  condemning Harper’s move to shutter the Experimental Lakes Area, where researchers unravelled the effects of acid rain on marine life and continue to work on the long-term ecological impacts of mercury and other toxins.  Read more in this article in this morning’s Edmonton Journal:  http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Scientists+critical+federal+cuts+environmental+research/6733392/story.html