Staff Reporter
For years the message drummed into Bud Harris, 78, and his grandson David Moreira, 27, was conserve, conserve.
And conserve they did, along with thousands of others across the GTA, watering their lawn less, replacing old toilets and installing water-efficient showerheads.
"We are trying to be economical and trying to do it to preserve the Earth as well," said Moreira, a locksmith who lives with his retired grandfather in a 1950s-era subdivision in Mississauga.
They've done all the right things, he says, 70 per cent for economic reasons and 30 per cent for environmental reasons.
But that win-win sentiment belies an inconvenient truth – one that came out in a recent unguarded comment from Durham Region's works czar, Cliff Curtis. Asked about declining water consumption, he told the Star:
"Conservation is killing us."
Realizing what he'd just said, Curtis smiled broadly and quickly added that there were, of course, a thousand reasons to conserve.
But one thing is certain: Conservation is putting cash-strapped municipalities in a bit of a pickle.
Tougher post-Walkerton regulations, growing communities and a rising backlog of crumbling pipes needing to be fixed are driving up costs even while diligent consumers are lowering their consumption and the size of their bills.
Toronto alone is facing about $800 million worth of repair and replacement work, since half of the city's water mains and 30 per cent of its sewer pipes are more than 50 years old. But last year, total revenue was only $604 million.
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