Comments on: The Water Efficiency Rating Score (WERS) Launches

By: Rachel Kingsley

Rachel Kingsley — Thu, 05 May 2016 19:42:57 +0000

California, which is in it’s
California, which is in it’s fifth year of drought, has over 100 proposed bills on the floor about water conservation/efficiency and water supply/planning.
In India, which has only been in severe drought for the last two years,people are dying of heatstroke and dehydration whole waiting in lines for water. 85% of the drinking water in India comes from aquifers. But if you have read “Plan B” by Lester Brown you know that the worlds aquifers are being depleted and will run out by 2025.
I agree with Colin that lawns are a foolhardy waste that should be abolished. Additionally, we should all be looking around our properties and finding ways we can augment our own water supply against the days of rationing and regulations that is coming. We must protect our rights to harvest rainwater, and we must do all we can to conserve what water there is. We must start doing this last year.
Dr. John Todd of Ecological Designs (formerly The New Alchemy Institute) has developed a wonderful resource for turning grey and even sewage water into potable drinking water using natural biological filters. His work around the globe treating the filthiest, most dangerous waterways with floating biological filters is astounding and worth looking into.
Let’s put water at the top of our agenda. After all, we can knit sweaters to keep us warm, but we can’t survive more than three days without water.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 05 May 2016 15:50:23 +0000

Reduced fixed monthly fees on
Reduced fixed monthly fees on peoples water bills, increase cost of water. Cities/Water companies say "conserve water", yet don’t change their pricing structure. Saving 500 gallons per month with efficient fixtures pales in comparison to the effect of shorter showers and less lawn watering. Only when consumers can see the effect of their conservation efforts in their water bill will they be motivated.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 05 May 2016 15:45:58 +0000

Planting TREES goes a long
Planting TREES goes a long way to conserving water, and its something that’s practical for most homeowners. Water requirements for lawns in the shade are MUCH less than those in full sun.

By: bill roth

bill roth — Wed, 04 May 2016 21:30:39 +0000

Alison- thanks for the great
Alison- thanks for the great write up of the WERS program and training. All of us involved with its development are extremely excited about the program moving forward and articles such as yours help raise its profile out there in the "Real world".

By: Mike Collignon

Mike Collignon — Wed, 04 May 2016 19:52:14 +0000

Bob:
Bob:

You’re exactly right. Water is very undervalued. I live in the Midwest, where most don’t care about water conservation at all.

That’s why we’ve been looking to increase the ROI for the property owner through incentives (tax credits, reduced fees or permit review times) and through our WERS – Manufacturer program, where people pursuing a WERS for their project can purchase water efficient products at a discount. Evolve Technologies (cited above) was the first manufacturer to sign up for that program, and there are more that will be announced soon.

Mike Collignon
Green Builder Coalition

By: Dennis Brachfeld

Dennis Brachfeld — Wed, 04 May 2016 17:01:49 +0000

Agree,we should not be
Agree,we should not be wasting water, a testing program (WETS), would help because we don't get what we expect we get what we inspect!

By: Colin Genge

Colin Genge — Wed, 04 May 2016 15:51:20 +0000

I live in Vancouver, a very
I live in Vancouver, a very wet climate, yet each year we have water rationing partly due to the mindless proliferation of lawns. If you know how this idea can be supported, please advise. This is what I wrote to the Metro area (of 2,400,000 people) recently.

Does Vancouver region have a program designed to save water, greenhouse gas emissions, VOX pollution, fertilizer pollution, insecticide pollution, herbicide pollution and noise pollution by discouraging lawns?

Every spring, I hear a chorus of two stroke lawn mowers, edge trimmers, leaf blowers and hedge trimmers ripping the quiet as we move towards summer.
Surely Vancouver would be well served to encourage the elimination of decorative lawns in favor of water retaining ground cover plants that would not require the endless chorus of two stroke engines to maintain.
I believe lawns get installed without much thought to whether it has any value beyond being a visual green strip. Discouraging lawns would go long ways to curing the ails described in my subject line. If not a program already, how can this be moved forward?

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 04 May 2016 15:42:28 +0000

The problem is the way water
The problem is the way water is billed. Most of a typical "water bill" is full of taxes/fees, very little is for the water itself. Consumers get frustrated when all their water conservation efforts have a minimal effect on the final bill.