Did you know that more than half of humanity depends on mountains for water? (This fact comes from this article on The Telegraph website).
At this time of year we have plenty of both mountains and water…
Why am I thinking about water (where it comes from and where it goes)? It so happens that my ghost walkers last night wanted to know about Banff’s water supply and sewage system, not something I had come prepared to talk about (ghosts neither drink nor pee).
I figured there had to be some kind of waste-water treatment going on (there’s no way all those hotels have some funky septic system under Banff Avenue) and, sure enough, Banff has a pretty skookum system. Because the town is in a National Park, they are pretty particular about what they consider to be a clean end product. Here’s a list of what Banff suggests you do NOT flush down the toilet. I’d say it’s a pretty good list for all of us to keep in mind.
I try not to forget how lucky I am to be able to enjoy a glass of good, clean water whenever I’m thirsty.
On the incoming end, Banff’s (quite delicious) drinking water comes from very deep underground wells. It’s pumped up to a reservoir on Tunnel Moutain and given a bit of chlorine treatment before trickling back down into the townsite and into drinking glasses and refillable water bottles all over town.
The Town of Banff provides filling stations so you can tank up with great Banff water free of charge.
Here in Canmore, there’s a rather ambitious action plan in place that hopes to reduce per capita water consumption by 50% by 2035 (from 200 rates). I love drinking the water here (tasty!) and I enjoy long showers… I guess I will have some work to do if I am going to do my part.
Do you have any great water conservation tips to share? I might as well start now…
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