The Martlet

The best mentors practice what they preach and, at a lecture aimed at water sustainability on Jan. 28, UVic environmental psychology professor Robert Gifford was unashamed to reveal he does just that.

“I only take a shower every second day, and I use my little hand-bowl on the other days,” Gifford said to an audience of students and community members.

Gifford told listeners that water preservation is found in even little actions — and in the attitude you take.

“Guess what: it’s possible to do your daily bathing out of a little bucket with warm water that doesn’t use more than five or six litres. None of us wants to do that, but that’s how far we can go,” he said. “It’s a matter of values, choices and awareness … and it’s the same thing with all other water use. Does anybody really need a hot tub?”

The event was one part of the Think Outside the Bottle campaign hosted by the UVic Sustainability Project, whose goal is to create awareness about issues surrounding waste reduction, and the preservation of fresh water.

The numbers suggest Canadians could learn a lot more about both topics.

Gifford said that our nation collectively guzzles and drains more fresh water per capita than any other nation in the world — 767 litres per person per day, to be exact. That’s over double the amount per capita used by any other country, aside from the U.S.

And how is that water disappearing so quickly? Our everyday commodities use deceptively-large amounts of water to produce, said Gifford.

“If you buy one pair of jeans, then you buy 11,000 litres of water,” he said. “So there is a water aspect to anti-materialism as well.”

A lot of it literally falls through the cracks, as well, said Gifford. Poorly maintained pipes lose 50 per cent of all tap water back into the ground in some major cities. By monitoring and upgrading pipe systems, more water could be saved — including here at UVic.

“Very little stimulus money is being put into water pipes,” he said. “[Instead], we’re wasting money fixing some buildings on campus that, in my opinion, don’t need to be fixed.”

If water can’t be preserved around the world, conflicts will increase, said Gifford. Tension is growing in the Middle East over fresh water sources already, and will crop up along other borders soon enough.

Gifford says the solution is a combination of changing core values, and changing very slow-moving government procedures and priorities, which can be a daunting task.

“At the national level, we need to push as citizens for better treaties, better regulations, [and] more equitable policies for the use of water,” he said.

But, while industry is creating an enormous challenge worldwide, British Columbians have been progressive in fighting for their local watersheds, said Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance.

“Here in B.C., we are basically getting our water from the mountains — from the forested landscapes,” Wu said. “At those elevations, heavy industry is not a major issue in terms of pollution of the water source. Logging is the big reason for the degradation of water quality in B.C.”

Wu has been working for the Western Canadian Wilderness Committee to prevent logging in B.C.’s local watersheds.

Wu says British Columbians are aware of the issues and are fighting back for areas around Sooke, the Spokane Valley and even Port Alberni, traditionally an industry-friendly town.