[BartSimpson]

The thing about leaky water pipes is it's hard to get politicians of any stripe to invest in maintaining anything that someone else built. There's no groundbreaking ceremony for the media and the various constitutencies tend not to see any benefit from taking care of something they take for granted.

[Jabberwalker]

It would cost several Olympic games worth of expenditure to fix the waters pipes in this country but there is no "huzzah" nor great media event to go with it. We are a penny-wise and pound-foolish bunch.

[andyt]

peck420 peck420:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

I just can't see those numbers, if they don't include water used in food production. I keep a pretty good leash on my water usage, and it's about 1.5 cubic metres (1500l) per month, including washing clothes and dishes.

~300l per day? ~9000 per month? That's insane! I can't use 1/4 of what the average person does!

Unfortunately, for every person like you, there is a dozen that just don't give a shit.

Canada has routinely topped the charts as one of the most wasteful water users.

I don't give a shit. We have lots of water, it flows back to the ocean whether I use it or conserve it.

[raydan]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

peck420 peck420:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

You also need to remember that our per capita usage is higher than yours because we grow a broader variety of crops than you folks do. We also grow a lot of crops in arid areas with the use of irrigation.

Very true, and that makes Canada's numbers all the sadder.

I think the US uses around 200+ times the amount for irrigation that Canada does, so that means that non-agro and private use must be substantially higher for the average Canuck.

I just can't see those numbers, if they don't include water used in food production. I keep a pretty good leash on my water usage, and it's about 1.5 cubic metres (1500l) per month, including washing clothes and dishes.

~300l per day? ~9000 per month? That's insane! I can't use 1/4 of what the average person does!

I just looked it up for Québec City and it's 530 liters per day per person, including industrial/agricultural usage and loss. Since 50% is private use, that would still mean that I use 265 liters per day... which is insane.

[Goober911]

jj2424 jj2424:

In 2003 the left wing was claiming Alberta would be a dust bowl in 10 years. Didn't happen we have so much water, we could sell water to the US. Don't like the weather? wait a few hours.

Check the water flows in major rivers from the 1920's forwards. They have dropped dramatically.

[raydan]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Hopwfully that El Nino they're predicting will come through...

All I need in my life is to live through another ice storm.

[ShepherdsDog]

To this day most of my showers are the same as when I was on ship. 30 seconds to wet down, and the water goes off. Lather and scrub for as long as I like, and the water comes back on for 1 and 1/2 minutes to rinse off. 95% of the showers I have are like this.

As for El Nino, they say the pattern is weakening.

[Jabberwalker]

Do you still smell like diesel all the time too?

[wildrosegirl]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Wonder how long it will be before Americans want us to pipe water down to them?

15 years ago.

[wildrosegirl]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Better yet America.


Don't build mega fucking cities in the middle of deserts.

If they'd fix their water lines they wouldn't be losing up to 50% of their treated water back into the ground. Cheap, lazy, wasteful arseholes deserve to go without.

[Jabberwalker]

I'd feel better about it if so much of it didn't end up evaporating from swimming pools in the desert.

[wildrosegirl]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

I've warned you folks several times to beware of Los Angeles and their thirst for everyone else's water. That said, they already have plans in the making to steal water from the Yukon in Alaska and the Fraser in BC:

http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft0v1 ... ntire_text

Water for Los Angeles

(Excerpt)

$1:

I've always felt that at some point in time there will be, because water is such a vital necessity, there will be a major basin transfer system from the Yukon [River] exchanging water for the Fraser River.

$1:

Nelson

You could never sell that plan because it would have to be guaranteed funding by the federal government. It was just too big a plan for any--even a large group of water utilities couldn't handle it. And in order to get federal funding, you'd have to get Congress to approve it. That's why I suggested that Great Lakes plan of basin transfer from Canada, which would have to be approved at the presidential level. There are so many senators whose states border on the Great Lakes, thus you have a substantial number of senators that could see benefits to their own state. You have to look at it from the political angle, as well as a practical or engineering angle. Whether it can be sold or not. Whereas anything in the West, you would only have maybe two or three states that would be involved and that would benefit from such a proposal. I think the plan to save the Great Lakes would catch on, and could possibly be done gradually. That would take a lot of studying and a lot of work, but I think, as I said before, that if we're going to continue (the United States) to grow as we have, growth will only be limited by the amount of water that is available to support that growth. And that is coming, in the next decade or so, to a critical point.

Now, if the aqueduct is not enlarged and sufficient water provided to fulfill the contract the state has with its member agencies, Southern California is going to be faced with a serious water shortage when we cyclically go into a period of eight to ten years of insufficient rainfall and snowfall. True, the water that is being provided by Metropolitan Water District is a supplemental supply. I think the amount of water that is needed by the Metropolitan Water District member agencies--I think about half of it is being provided by Metropolitan Water District. The other half is provided by the Owens River Aqueduct, or local wells, or local supplies. But that percentage is going to rapidly change with the growth that is taking place in this coast area. So people are going to have to be made aware of the options that they have, and it's not going to be done by conservation and rationing.

We've been listening. Although he might think it, the POTUS does not make law in Canada, and the law currently states that Bulk export of water from Crown land is illegal. Congress can approve and the President can sign the bill, but that doesn't change Canadian law.

Looks like we might have to get us some guns to protect ourselves.

[ShepherdsDog]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

Do you still smell like diesel all the time too?

was a weapons tech....we knew how to bath

[Jabberwalker]

... glad that you don't smell like bananas ...

[jj2424]

Goober911 Goober911:

jj2424 jj2424:

In 2003 the left wing was claiming Alberta would be a dust bowl in 10 years. Didn't happen we have so much water, we could sell water to the US. Don't like the weather? wait a few hours.

Check the water flows in major rivers from the 1920's forwards. They have dropped dramatically.

Horse Hockey,in Alberta they have been flowing higher than normal for the last decade. Look at Calgary they are considering a diversion tunnel to send the water past the reservoir and back down the Bow.