Clean drinking water: conserving and recuperating it

Low-flush toilets

Households consume 60% of all water used in the country. Toilets alone consume 30% of this water. A toilet that has a very low flow rate will therefore make a huge difference and its expense is minimal. Since April 2014, the Quebec Construction Code has set the limit for toilets to a maximum flow rate of 6 liters (1.5 gallons).

However, you can do even better by opting for a toilet with a maximum flow rate of 4.8 or 4.1 liters (1.3 or 1.1 gallons) per flush (LPF). You can also choose, as have the architects of the ERE 132 home, the Canadian designed toilet that is the most efficient on the market — the Water Matrix Proficiency — which uses 3.0 liters (0.8 gallons) of water per single flush. For the more adventurous, dry toilets or composting toilets are good alternatives, subject, of course, to municipality approval..

LOW-FLOW FAUCETS

You can buy faucets that have a low flow rate — a maximum flow rate of 5.7 liters (1.5 gallons) per minute (or LPM) — or install, for less than $5, a faucet aerator that reduces the water flow rate to less than 5.7 LPM on an existing faucet. These options offer feasible low-cost water savings.

Turning off the faucet when brushing one’s teeth saves 13 liters (3 gallons) of water.

One drop of water per second from a leaky faucet can waste up to 27 liters (7 gallons) of water per day, or 10,000 liters (2,642 gallons) of water per year.