Survey reveals Canadians flushing things they shouldn’t
Posted Mar 22, 2011 04:52:07 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A survey suggests most Canadians admit to flushing things that shouldn’t have gone down the drain.
Things like left-over food, hair, bugs and cigarette butts. Sending such items swirling down the drain wastes six to 20 litres of fresh, clean water with each flush.
The online Ipsos-Reid survey of more than two-thousand Canadian adults found 55 per cent of respondents believed fresh water is our most important natural resource and 78 per cent said they’re trying to conserve it. But almost three quarters admitted to flushing items that could have gone in a garbage can or composter.
The study was endorsed by the Canadian partnership initiative of the United Nations water for life decade. Group official Bob Sandford said Canadians claim to care about conserving water and yet knowingly waste it. Canadians use an average of 329 litres of water per day.
Sandford said water is a real bargain in Canada, which was another reason Canadians were clueless to its value. He said in France water costs four times more and in Germany, water costs almost seven times more, and added the average daily domestic water use in those countries is less than half of what it is in Canada.
