Officials in the British Columbia town of Squamish are looking for ways to stop the area's water infrastructure from leaking millions of liters of water into the ground each year, according to local reports.
The town's Plateau Reservoir holds much of the water supply, but officials say it doesn't hold it very well, according to the Squamish Chief. Following some accurate leak detection efforts in 2011, municipal authorities determined the reservoir spills roughly 19 million liters of water per year. The reservoir has no door or discernible access point, and its origins are something of a mystery, the news sources reports. No one knows when it was built or who built it.
Furthermore, the area's water pipes have deteriorated to the point that one local official equated them to a perforated garden hose, the Chief reports. The average Squamish home uses 688 liters of water per day, almost double the average in the rest of Canada. One home was recently discovered with a leak in its front yard that was spilling roughly 3 million liters per year. District officials are planning to repair the town's infrastructure and reservoir to help reduce municipal costs and promote water conservation in the area.
Canada ranks 15th out of 16 first-world countries in terms of water consumption, according to the Conference Board of Canada. The most recent data indicates Canadians used roughly 1,500 cubic meters of water per capita in 2000, second only to the United States, which used roughly 1,700 cubic meters.
