Calgary’s water crisis must spur change in our water consumption habits.
Most of us turn on our tap daily, without a thought about consumption or quality—and I say most because unfortunately, there are still many Indigenous communities in Canada that have to contend with inadequate water quality and/or supply.
For the majority of Canadians, safe water is delivered by an extensive underground network to our homes. Yet in June, a critical water main break in Calgary gave us a very small glimpse into the reality for more than two billion people worldwide who live without safely managed water year-round. Today, as Calgary moves out of this emergency, my hope is that we can learn something from it.
In my 20+ years of running an international water organization out of Calgary, Alberta, my team has witnessed many water-related challenges and crises, overseas and here at home. We’ve been moved to tears by the impact, and inspired by people who rise to the challenge and take action to make a difference in their (our) communities.
One man in Pakistan told me to share with fellow Canadians, “learn from us and don’t make the same mistake we did. Take care of your water. It’s precious.” Between aging infrastructure, population growth, land use changes and depleting water reserves, increasingly our country is also dealing with issues related to water. In Alberta, we’ve had the flood of 2013, drought (particularly during forest fire season), and most recently a critical water main break. This latest crisis felt different. It sparked more conversations in the media and among friends on household water use and quality, including from other provinces.
We are hopeful this means that people are waking up to the fact that we are not immune to the water crisis affecting our world.
We echo what many have already said, that we need to maintain and improve upon many habits we’ve adopted to reduce our water consumption. We can learn a lot from our global community on ways in which individuals can take action at the household level.
Make water knowledge common knowledge. We need to find better ways to engage, educate and empower ourselves to understand our local water, what to do to conserve water all the time and be ready and able to respond in the face of an emergency. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day are needed to ensure that most basic needs are met and few health concerns arise. For context, the Canadian average in 2023 was 220 litres per person per day in their homes. There's more we can do as individuals to better steward this important resource and be more knowledgeable about how to take care of our own water.
Measure what matters. Water matters and we need to find ways to measure what we use. In the United Kingdom, water metering technology is top of the line, providing the capability to understand at a household-level how and where water consumption is being used, and provide alerts if there are any substantial increases which could signal a leak or other problem. During this past month, our team had an internal water challenge amongst staff to encourage one another to collectively reduce our water footprint at home and at our office/training centre. Employees shared photos of unique rainwater harvesting setups they had; however, at the end of the day, our organization struggled to quantify how much we reduced.
Celebrate conservation. It’s time to normalize and celebrate those making tremendous efforts to conserve water. Our team travels around the world. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last month, the hotel had signs on the shower door encouraging guests to join the ‘one minute challenge’ and shower in 60 seconds or less. In India, we visited homes on city water pipelines, yet completely self-sufficient on rainwater. In Calgary, one community member who I spoke with expressed a feeling of guilt for using rainwater. Surprised, I asked why? It was because her grass and garden was flourishing and she was worried that her neighbours would think she’s watering her lawn with a hose, using city treated water. How about lawn signs that celebrate “I use rainwater!”
It is not easy to change our own behaviour, but there’s no doubt that these types of water events are only going to increase in our country. It’s our choice on how we adapt and learn for the future.
Our team’s experience working with organizations in almost every country of the world gives us a unique lens on the challenges and opportunities. Over time, collectively we can make a difference far greater than any one of us could do alone. We all have an important role to play to protect our water resources for the future. Let’s start now.
Shauna Curry, P.Eng, is the CEO of CAWST, the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, a non-profit engineering consultancy and Canadian charity. Based in Calgary, Alberta, CAWST is an institutional innovation providing training, consulting and expertise globally to solve local water challenges. Shauna joined CAWST in 2004 and during her tenure, Shauna expanded CAWST’s reach from two countries to serving nearly every country of the world. In 2023 alone, more than 14 million people were reached with improved water, sanitation or hygiene. Shauna applies her technical experience, passion for solving issues at their core, and conviction of the power of human capacity to create a more equitable and just world, through water.
This article was originally published on Canadian Affairs. Read it here.
