WC136 MayJune 2024 - Magazine - Page 5
EDITOR’S NOTE
An invention ahead of its time
PROJECTS l POLICY l INNOVATION
MAY/JUNE 2024 • VOLUME 24, NUMBER 3
EDITOR
Toby Gorman
VICE PRESIDENT, CONTENT & PARTNERSHIPS
Corinne Lynds
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
John Tenpenny, Connie Vitello
ART DIRECTOR AND SENIOR DESIGNER
Gordon Alexander
CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS
Lauren Toreson, Emma Johnston,
Monica Seidel, Gordon Feller, Rob Hacking,
Mark Douglas Wessel, Saul Chernos,
Carolyn Gruske, Talia Glickman, Don Holland
WATER CANADA ADVISORY BOARD
Stephen Braun, Melissa Dick, Gregary Ford,
Jon Grant, Robert Haller, Linda Li,
Michael Lywood, Eric Meliton, Ranin Nseir,
Terry Rees, Emily Stahl
ADVERTISING
Vanessa Watson, vanessa@actualmedia.ca
DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER
Charlotte Stone
DIRECTOR OF EVENTS
Sarah Wensley
PRESIDENT
Todd Latham
PUBLISHER
Nick Krukowski
ADVISOR
James Sbrolla
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IN 2007 when I was a reporter in Nanaimo, B.C., I interviewed an inventor
named Ron Hartman. Hartman, a surveyor turned land developer, had
come to Nanaimo to break ground on the Ocean View Terrace subdivision.
He was interested in water conservation and wanted to introduce grey-water
recycling for irrigating Ocean View with a water-saving device called the
Conservepump. His company was called iDUS Controls.
At the time, he told me his dream was to have his pump included in the
residential building code so that every new build would include a residential
version of the Conservepump. It would add about $2,500 to the cost of a
new home, a nominal amount even then, but it would conserve more than
40 percent of a household’s water use.
In a nutshell, greywater from the sinks, washing machines, dishwashers, and showers would be processed by the Conservepump and then be
resupplied into the toilets, where it would become blackwater before being
flushed to the wastewater treatment plant. It seemed like a no-brainer to me.
A few years later, Hartman gave up on his dream of equipping homes
with the Conservepump. His business partners never really bought in on the
idea, so iDUS Controls switched to agriculture and developed sensors for
moisture content and crop irrigation. Last I looked, things were going well.
Over the past 15 years or so I have often thought about Hartman and
his company. It always seemed to me the Conservepump was a brilliant and
necessary invention. With new federal and provincial strategies now focussed
on building hundreds of thousands of new homes, and an increasing discussion on water conservation, especially in the Canadian prairies, residential
grey-water systems in new builds is a topic that needs to be resurrected.
In 10 years, we’re all going to have EV plug-ins in our garages, so
standardizing a new utility into homes isn’t impossible. To date, the best
recommendations for conserving household water is installing efficient
showerheads, dual-flush toilets, rainwater harvesting, digital water metres,
more efficient dishwashers and washing machines. Even designing a garden
to be more drought resistant gets a mention. But why is nobody pushing
for the obvious? A small pump and tank that could conserve more than 40
percent of water usage in every house and business could be so much more
productive.
It’s true that agriculture, mining, and manufacturing account for as much
as 90 percent of all water usage in Canada. Household use amounts to a
drop in the bucket. But good habits start at home, and teaching future generations about the importance of conserving water will have a ripple effect
down the line.
Toby Gorman is the editor of Water Canada. toby@actualmedia.ca
Water Canada gratefully acknowledges the financial support
received from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
COMING UP IN THE NEXT ISSUE: JULY/AUGUST
REMOVING MICROPLASTICS • IMPROVING ACCESS TO WATER • NANOBUBBLES IN AGRICULTURE
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WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
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