By Mark Squibb
Mount Pearl has hit a new low — but in a good way.
The city hit a record low for water consumption in January, consuming 340,985 cubic meters. That’s about 31 million liters less than the former record of 373,033 cubic metres, which was set in January 2020.
City staff and council attribute the new record to both the City’s leak detection service and recent upgrades to municipal infrastructure.
Councillor Jim Locke applauded the efforts to reduce water wastage.
“The Province, a couple of weeks back, perhaps it was last week, announced the Climate Change Challenge fund, money that will help not-for-profits and municipalities that may want to switch operations that are more climate-friendly,” said Locke. “And I spoke to a few folks at that particular announcement, and I highlighted some of the things that we do in the City of Mount Pearl, and they were absolutely shocked. I listed, just from memory, all the operations that the City of Mount Pearl has undertaken that have reduced our impact on the climate. And one person in particular said, ‘How come you guys aren’t promoting it?’ And we do a lot, but we sort of fly under the radar. We do things because we know it’s the right thing to do.”
Locke noted that over at the Summit Centre, the City uses a heat recovery system to recapture heat which is diverted back into the facility’s heating system, and that rainwater is collected and filtered for further use, amongst other city-wide initiatives.
The councillor also credited residents with being good stewards of the city’s drinking water.
“We know it’s finite, its not unlimited, and so our residents have also been taking action to con-serve water where they can,” said Locke.
Planning director Scott Batt said the trend is expected to continue.
“Going forward, we expect to be setting record numbers as a regular occurrence,” said Batt.
