Gregor Robertson wants to install water meters in Vancouver Houses

[mike31154]

I think water meters are a good thing. Just like any utility, you should be paying for actual use, or what you 'choose' to use. I lived in a condominium townhouse (that's strata for you BC folks) in Ottawa for 13 years and cost of water use was included in the condo/strata fees. Most of the buildings had from 5 to 7 units per building, but I was in a smaller one with a 3 unit building. All other utilities were pay per use but as mentioned the water bill was included in the condo fees, which of course kept going up year after year. In addition to water, the fees covered things like landscaping, winter snow removal, management company renumeration and of course contribution to the reserve fund. The reserve fund is there to pay for major maintenance such as roof replacement and any other maintenance to the exterior of the building. Essentially you owned the inside of your abode and anything exterior, including the exterior walls, belonged to the corporation. This can be good or bad, depending on the situation. Our corporation had a good handle on the financial situation and was able to replace all the windows and doors one summer without having to collect extra fees due to lack of planning.

Anyhow, back to the water thing. At one time there was talk of installing water meters in the corporation as well but it never got off the ground. Being single and using relatively lttle water, I was subsidizing the family of five or seven with their water use and was definitely in favour of metering and paying for actual use. One of my neighbours was out washing his car every second day. I couldn't believe it, the guy was pretty anal about his car and it wasn't even anything special, just a standard GM family ride. The plan was to install a meter in one unit of every block and one of the issues that eventually sunk the idea was who's going to read the meter since the city wasn't going to start reading individual meters in a condo corporation. I suspect another factor was the water wasters in the community were quite happy to have guys like me help foot their bill. I owned my unit, but the majority of them were rented and I imagine the landlords didn't much care since they could just pass increases in condo fees on to the tenants in the form of higher rent. The turn out at the annual condo meetings was always less than stellar often with barely enough participants (owners) to have a quorum for an official meeting. One of the things I promised myself is I would never ever live in another condo corporation or strata whatever we call it here in BC. Thankfully I was able to make that a reality when I moved to Vernon.

Water is a precious resource and we're spoiled here in Canada. Since moving to the relatively dry Okanagan, I've come to appreciate this a little more and there is certainly an increased awareness of that in this area.

[Tom R]

As I understand it the meters are on the outside of the building and either Hydro or Terasen reads them when they are around reading the Gas or Electricity usage.

In many areas they will become monitory in the near future.

They are being installed for free if you agree to put them in now.
All new construction require a water meter installation included in the water hookup.

If you have not elected to install a meter before they become mandatory then you will have to pay for the installation at that time.

As a matter of wasting water, you talk of the guy that washes his car every 2nd day, I have a neighbour who washes his car and then proceeds to wash down the driveway and street in front of his house every other day.

Tom R

[cprowler]

Originally Posted by Tom R

In many areas they will become monitory in the near future.

They are being installed for free if you agree to put them in now.
All new construction require a water meter installation included in the water hookup.

If you have not elected to install a meter before they become mandatory then you will have to pay for the installation at that time.

This is exactly why we had one installed a few years ago.

[kien]

Ya, this is not the most environmentally sound hobby for sure.. Lots of wasted water, electricity, etc.. But then so is driving a car to work. Not everyone needs to but mostly everyone does for convenience. Again we have to pick our battles and compromises (if these sorts of things matter to you). I stopped watering the lawn 5 years ago. The front "lawn" just grows on rainwater and the backyard is planted with clovers which can thrive just fine in whatever limited water they get. I don't keep as Many house plants as I used to. Just a few choice orchids which don't actually need that much watering.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Tom R

As I understand it the meters are on the outside of the building and either Hydro or Terasen reads them when they are around reading the Gas or Electricity usage.

well they can't be on the wall of the house as they will freeze, so they have to dig a pit and install it, or they put them inside the house. the ones inside the house have a transmitter on them so a reciver truck just drives down the road and takes the readings. the cheeper one for the utility is to install it inside the house, then they don't have to dig. and for places like where I am, they would have to burry it 6 feet deep or more. I know if Victoria mine was about 1.5 foot deep.

Steve

[Tom R]

Yes it all starts with each and every one of us doing our little bit to help.

As my 5 year old granddaughter tells me.
Like turning off a light as we exit the room or pulling the plug on a battery charger when its not charging a battery.

There is a push right now to identify Power Vampires. Hydro estimates that there are on average 50 Power Vampires in most homes. They estimate that by eliminating them we could easily save 10% of our power usage or a good dinner out for you and the significant other once or twice a year.

I recently purchased a little devise from Canadian Tire

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows...gy%2BMeter.jsp

It estimates the usage and cost of energy consumed by an item over a period of time. I plugged it in on one of my 3 computers I have running 24/7 in my home and it estimated a power consumption in stand by mode of about $4.50 per month. Not much however I have 3.

My Hydro bill runs at about $165.00 per month and I am not about to give up my hobby, however I am certainly going to start by looking into these Power Vampires.

Within the hobby we can make more informed choices on the equipment we buy. Many of the pumps used today are just extreme power consumers. An example is that my main circulation pump is an Amp Master 3000 it uses about 95W per hour and moves approx. 3600 Gallons an hour with no head. Whereas a comparable Reeflo Dart uses 145W per hour to move approx the same amount of water.

We can still enjoy our hobby however the time has come to be smarter with what we are doing.

I guess I will now get down off my little soap box and get on with my day.

Tom R