Emo focused on water conservation

Despite the recent rain across the district, water conservation still is at the forefront for the Township of Emo.
“Definitely, as a nation, as a whole, we’re one of the largest wasters of water probably in the world because we have so much, but you don’t think of it as something you might want to conserve or not waste so much,” Emo Reeve Ed Carlson noted yesterday.
“But we do waste a lot of water,” he stressed.
Emo council has discussed, at previous meetings, installing water meters at each residence—an item that’s set to become mandatory under the Ontario Clean Water Act in coming years.
“We’re going to have to do it regardless if we want to or not,” Reeve Carlson explained. “We don’t have a hard and fast date for when the water meters will go in . . . I’d like to have it done by the fall, but that’s a bit ambitious, I’m sure.”
Emo is applying to the Green Municipal Fund for at least partial funding for the water meters for the community.
“It costs about $500 per meter to install them so without that, it would be charged back to the homeowner,” Reeve Carlson noted. “Not all at one time, of course, but a little bit over time and eventually it would pick up the cost of it.”
The township does have five “test” water meters it plans to install at a variety of residences first to see what the water usage is.
“People need to get on the bandwagon with just little things even, like not letting the tap run when your brushing your teeth or shaving,” said Reeve Carlson.
“All these little things that we often do that, multiplied by the number of homes in the town and the number of people in the community, adds up to a lot of gallons of water.”
He explained when they are ready to set a price per meter, what they will do is get a picture of the average home use and set the rates to that.
“Then if you go beyond that, you pay an extra fee,” he indicated, adding it will be the same for businesses.
“That’s the only fair way to set the prices for the meters.”
Reeve Carlson said he feels water meters are a good idea, and that they will help with water conservation in Emo as residents become aware of their usage.
“It’s a good idea for people to have it front and centre in their minds,” he stressed. “Our town is growing.
“Our capacity is at a certain level—it can handle it, that’s not the problem—but we certainly need to be looking to increase the capacity of our water treatment plant.”
With the one subdivision already full and looking to expand, and a second one in the works, Reeve Carlson believes Emo will grow over the next several years and so proper water capacity is key.
“We are starting to look at that already—what would be the best route to go, whether it might be a water tower versus actually doing anything to plant,” he remarked, stressing it’s a project they’ll need government support for.
“It gets tougher and tougher all the time and you need the government support for everything and it seems like so much of that is drying up,” he added.
Reeve Carlson also noted township workers are taking on an extra project this summer at the water treatment plant—removing and changing the water intake.
“We had a temporary one in there, so that’s going to be a big project going on this summer. . . . It has to be done—we don’t have a choice,” he said.
As well, Reeve Carlson noted the proposed water spray park for Emo is not a concern when it comes to water usage in the community.
“It’s something people really need to understand,” he stressed. “I’ve had concerns from people in town, and rightly so. You’re asking them to not water their lawns at certain times and then you appear to just be throwing it away through the spray park.
“However, the spray park is a closed system where the water would go down, be recycled through, and then back to be sprayed out again.
“Of course, there’s a little bit lost through evaporation and on the kids’ clothes as the leave, but pretty much it’s a closed system where it won’t have a drain on the system,” Reeve Carlson explained.