The District of Lantzville is aiming for a 10 per cent dip in water use over the next decade under its first-ever water conservation plan.
District officials have approved their first water plan, which aims to scale back water consumption by 2025 with education on grey-water use and water-efficient landscaping and expanded participation in Team Water Smart activities.
The municipality has seen a 23-per cent drop in water consumption per capita since its incorporation in 2003 and has had strategies in place to encourage conservation among the 2,300 people who rely on the local water system.
But until now, goals haven’t been written into any plan, according to Fred Spears, the district’s director of public works, who believes it’s something everyone is eventually going to have in place to run water systems and the district is trying to get ahead of the curve.
The plan doesn’t account for a new water agreement with Nanaimo and there are no new costs attached, although the community will pay ongoing expenses like $11,000 annually for water meter maintenance and replacement and $8,900 a year to take part in the regional district’s drinking water and watershed protection program.
Mayor Colin Haime said the new document is a good thing to provide focus, but is also “very general” on actions and goals and doesn’t take into account other possibilities like standards for new construction.
“Now comes the question of how much we do with it and what the cost of doing things with it and what are the costs of not doing things are,” he said.
Coun. Jennifer Millbank said the community has been progressive with low water usage and it’s nice to see it all compiled into one place. She hopes measures like grey water use and rainwater harvesting get some uptake.