Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin

Mountain resort communities need to consider how they will adapt to the increasing demand for domestic water from a growing, often seasonal, population; and to the prospects of climate change. This investigation evaluated domestic water use in Rossland and Invermere: Two resort communities in the Co...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lepsoe, Stephanie
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: University of British Columbia 2009
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7677
id ndltd-UBC-oai-circle.library.ubc.ca-2429-7677
record_format oai_dc
spelling ndltd-UBC-oai-circle.library.ubc.ca-2429-76772018-01-05T17:23:30Z Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin Lepsoe, Stephanie Mountain resort communities need to consider how they will adapt to the increasing demand for domestic water from a growing, often seasonal, population; and to the prospects of climate change. This investigation evaluated domestic water use in Rossland and Invermere: Two resort communities in the Columbia Basin that both face water supply concerns resulting from excessive use and increased climatic variability. The study examined historic and current water use, then developed scenarios of future domestic water demands that take into consideration possible growth and water conservation, or demand management (DM) options. Indoor and outdoor conservation strategies evaluated for domestic and tourism-related use included metering with an increasing block rate, a DM “package” of fixtures/appliances, and rainwater collection. The study does not involve an economic analysis, nor does it examine the values driving water use and consumption. It focuses on DM as it relates to potential water savings through conservation. The primary methods used involved collecting and correlating current water use and climate data, and estimating potential savings from various conservation strategies, both now and in the future. The results confirmed that when domestic consumption is isolated from other sectors, domestic per capita water consumption in both communities remains very high: The average annual consumption for Rossland was 483 litres/capita/day (lcd), while Invermere used 353 lcd. Outdoor water use during the summer resulted in an increase of 50% for Rossland and 40% for Invermere. Future water demands were modelled using scenarios for no conservation versus conservation strategies. The results showed that conservation could accommodate an extra 5,000 people in Rossland and 2,500 people in Invermere, without increasing supplies. This study reinforces the argument that, rather than searching for new water sources or expanding water storage capacity, immediately reducing water consumption is an effective option for sustainable resource use, and will lessen the effects of climate change. The research also highlights the need for better record keeping and/or data collection in four main areas: water consumption (demand) and river flows/ aquifer recharge rates (supply) at the municipal and watershed levels; tourist activity in towns that are tourism-dependent; and high altitude climate information. Science, Faculty of Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for Graduate 2009-04-29T15:01:08Z 2009-04-29T15:01:08Z 2009 2009-11 Text Thesis/Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7677 eng Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 6192089 bytes application/pdf University of British Columbia
collection NDLTD
language English
format Others
sources NDLTD
description Mountain resort communities need to consider how they will adapt to the increasing demand for domestic water from a growing, often seasonal, population; and to the prospects of climate change. This investigation evaluated domestic water use in Rossland and Invermere: Two resort communities in the Columbia Basin that both face water supply concerns resulting from excessive use and increased climatic variability. The study examined historic and current water use, then developed scenarios of future domestic water demands that take into consideration possible growth and water conservation, or demand management (DM) options. Indoor and outdoor conservation strategies evaluated for domestic and tourism-related use included metering with an increasing block rate, a DM “package” of fixtures/appliances, and rainwater collection. The study does not involve an economic analysis, nor does it examine the values driving water use and consumption. It focuses on DM as it relates to potential water savings through conservation. The primary methods used involved collecting and correlating current water use and climate data, and estimating potential savings from various conservation strategies, both now and in the future. The results confirmed that when domestic consumption is isolated from other sectors, domestic per capita water consumption in both communities remains very high: The average annual consumption for Rossland was 483 litres/capita/day (lcd), while Invermere used 353 lcd. Outdoor water use during the summer resulted in an increase of 50% for Rossland and 40% for Invermere. Future water demands were modelled using scenarios for no conservation versus conservation strategies. The results showed that conservation could accommodate an extra 5,000 people in Rossland and 2,500 people in Invermere, without increasing supplies. This study reinforces the argument that, rather than searching for new water sources or expanding water storage capacity, immediately reducing water consumption is an effective option for sustainable resource use, and will lessen the effects of climate change. The research also highlights the need for better record keeping and/or data collection in four main areas: water consumption (demand) and river flows/ aquifer recharge rates (supply) at the municipal and watershed levels; tourist activity in towns that are tourism-dependent; and high altitude climate information. === Science, Faculty of === Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for === Graduate
author Lepsoe, Stephanie
spellingShingle Lepsoe, Stephanie
Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin
author_facet Lepsoe, Stephanie
author_sort Lepsoe, Stephanie
title Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin
title_short Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin
title_full Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin
title_fullStr Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin
title_full_unstemmed Water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the Canadian Columbia Basin
title_sort water demand management and adaptations for mountain resort communities in the canadian columbia basin
publisher University of British Columbia
publishDate 2009
url http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7677
work_keys_str_mv AT lepsoestephanie waterdemandmanagementandadaptationsformountainresortcommunitiesinthecanadiancolumbiabasin
_version_ 1718582048055099392