Cowichan Valley Regional District:
Shawnigan Lake North
Demand Management Strategy

 

 

The Challenge:
Develop a comprehensive demand management strategy for an isolated water supply area on Vancouver Island with above average water consumption.

 

The Project:

The Shawnigan Lake North water supply system is managed by the Cowichan Valley Regional District and only has 656 connected users, mostly residential. When CVRD asked us to develop a conservation strategy for the system, we saw the small scale as an opportunity to come up with something truly comprehensive using our 5Es of demand management.

The plan we came up with involves the whole gambit of water efficiency measures: system loss control, residential retrofitting, ICI audits, education, metering and price reform, judicious use of outdoor restrictions and customer education. Some of the measures we looked at included voluntary metering, home visits as a way to reach this very specific market and accelerating replacement of inefficient toilets. Importantly, it can all be delivered within the available budget envelope.

 

The Result:
We successfully completed the strategy and implementation is now underway.  We are continuing to work with CVRD on various aspects of the project including roll out of universal metering, a toilet retrofit program and improving marketing communications.

For more information on the Cowichan Valley Regional District see http://www.cvrd.bc.ca/.