City wants to reduce water consumption by 20% in the next decade

The City of Prince George is aiming to reduce its water consumption by 20% by 2025.

The plan is to continue with the voluntary water metering program and find uses for grey water.

“Some of the other things that we’re looking to in order to meet these targets is changing out certain fixtures in order to have low-flow toilets and automatic taps,” says Will Wedel, a utilities manager with the city. “Also, improving our irrigation system and expanding on the Sentinel system that we currently have in place so that it will not water certain areas.”

There will also be some tweaks to the restricted sprinkler schedule.

“They’ll be very similar to what they are right It’s just that we’re going to expand it out so that it’s the same throughout the city. Currently, we have a slightly different system when you get out to the eastern part of the city because they’re on a slightly smaller water system. It will still be on odd and even days.”

The city’s last water conservation plan was implemented in 2005. It failed to meet its goal of a 15% reduction in water consumption over 10 years. Instead water use dropped by about 5%

Wedel says public education will play a key part in the new plan.

“If it’s not brought to your attention on a regular basis, you tend to slip back into your old habits. So we’re just trying to find ways that we can continue to provide information to the public about the importance of water conservation even when we have summers similar to this one.”

The City is also working on a better leak detection system for water mains.