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Anderson promotes water conservation

Point Roberts water commission chair Madeleine Anderson wants to see Point Roberts consumers think about the water they use. “We are very fortunate here but we need to remember much of America isn’t,” she said. “Forty percent of America’s water fails to meet federal clean water standards. The current crisis isn’t over. Reservoirs are down and will still be down for next year if we don’t get a huge dump of snow.”

At their October 8 meeting Anderson asked fellow commissioners and district staff to take a more active role in promoting water conservation among Point Roberts consumers. “We are supposed to have a conservation program,” acknowledged district manager Dan Bourks, but added that with the district locked into buying 840,000 of water every day from the Greater Vancouver Water District, they were more concerned with selling the water they were paying for than with paying for water and then encouraging their customers not to use it. “Business-wise, that’s the issue,” Bourks said. In 2003 the district paid for three times more water than consumers used. However, in peak summer months the district was consistently at the limit and went over their allotted usage several times.

“I know the mechanics of using what we pay for but I think we need to be more pro-active about educating consumers,” Anderson insisted.

With the golf course as a customer in the summer, commissioner Art Wilkowski said encouraging conservation from residential customers in the summer would start to make more business sense, in addition to being environmentally responsible and helping the local economy. If residential users were given the tools to save water next summer they could save money on their water bills, and more would be available for the golf course to buy for irrigation water, which the district was unable to sell to them at times this summer due to high residential demand.

Anderson said she’s like to see a banner promoting water conservation, or a sign documenting usage outside the district office next summer. “Let’s gather some information from the state department of ecology, the federal environmental protection agency and other places and talk about some ideas to launch in May of next year,” Wilkowski agreed.

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