Waterscape - Bowen Island
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Water in our lives: how we use it

Water - Essential to Life
Imagine life without water. Impossible! People, animals, plants - we all need water to survive.

Hidden Water Use
Water is used to produce the food we eat and the products we use. For example, manufacturing a car uses hundreds of thousands of litres of water.
Where does all that water go?
We flush a third of the water we use down the toilet. In the summer, watering our gardens can cause household use to jump 30%.
Hidden Water Use
Drinking and cooking 4% 
Garden watering 20% 
Toilet flushing 32% 
Bathing and cleaning 28% 
Laundry and dishes 16%
(Data from Greater Vancouver Regional District)
Necessity - The Mother of Conservation
By international standards, Canadians waste a lot of water. Cheap and seemingly unlimited supplies discourage conservation, but water districts on Bowen Island that suffer summer water shortages have become very efficient water users. How did they do it?

User pay!
Summer water use in Eagle Cliff dropped 70% when household meters were installed. When we have to pay for what we use, we tend to use less. Meters also identify leaks in the pipe system.
Average daily water use per person (litres)
Waterscapes: