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Torrents to Trickles - Water Conservation Today

© April Kelley

For some years now I have lived in the amazing rainforests of British Columbia and felt safe and comfortable about my water usage. They don't even meter the water use here - you can use however much you want! But last year here in the rainforest, our water was rationed, fires blazed across the Okanogan Valley, destroying homes and towns as they went. Even more frightening was that while these forest fires destroyed more human habitat than they ever had before, there weren't actually that many more forest fires than the last several years had seen. Last year, those forest fires didn't just hit BC, they ravaged Mt. Lemmon in Arizona and burnt so hot they literally sterilized the earth - and stopped within twenty yards of my former house on Mt. Lemmon. That was a little close for comfort. This year, the province of British Columbia already has more forest fires burning than it had the entire year of 2003.

Now, I realize that there are multiple factors contributing to forest fires, including overall climate change and the pestilential pine beetle. But there is no question about it - lack of rainfall plays a huge factor. If there is not enough rainfall to protect the forests, how can there be enough to support the ever-growing human race? This stuff is no Henny Penny act by some fringe group of wannabe hippies with too much time on their hands. Experts predict that by the year 2050 most countries will be affected by severe water scarcity. It's time to get serious about water conservation.

But where should be begin? I would love to install low-flow toilets and faucets throughout my house - or even be brave enough to go with a composting toilet. Wouldn't it be fabulous to have a rainwater collection system, a grey water system and be able to redo the garden in all drought resistant plants? But what if you can't afford all those things? What if you live in a lovely, eighty-year-old charming, quirky and very water-wasting apartment building?

Then there are the bitter questions of motivation and effect. Why should I go to the trouble to conserve water when the local municipalities can't even get it together enough to recognize that they need to construct a bigger reservoir to hold the precious runoff when the snow pack melts too quickly due to the climate warming? What kind of a difference can I make?

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