A couple years ago water meters were installed in every property in Magic Lake Estates. Over these past couple years when the bill came you would see your water usage and everyone was billed a flat fee. The flat fee for water was around $63 four times a year. Bills come quarterly. Sewer is approximately $68 four times a year.
Our last bill stated that starting July 2013 water will be billed based on usage. The flat fee will continue for anyone using 50 cu.m of water or less. There will be a tiered system in place. Water usage over 50 cu.m will be billed $0.50/ cu.m - the notice states that this surcharge would apply to approximately 15% of water users. A third tier will be in place for anyone using over 80 cu.m and supposedly this will apply to about 6% of water users. The rate for over 80 cu.m of water is $1.00/cu.m.
1 cubic meter of water = 1000 litres of water. To give you an idea of water usage I will share my water usage. I have a family of three and both my husband and I work from home and we have a teenage child. Our last bill was approximately 30,000 litres of water which equals 30 cu.m. We are well under the 50 cu.m line before a surcharge would apply.
Many gulf islanders practice water conservation. Some of the methods we personally use are very basic...we try not to flush the toilet every time but only when needed. The saying at the community hall washrooms says "if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down" lol this may sound strange if you don't live here but for us it is a normal way of life on Pender. We have only upgraded one of our three toilets to be low flush. We do use a dishwasher and only put it on when it is full and the same with the laundry, we don't do small loads. We do take both baths and showers, sometimes it is daily and sometimes it is not. We don't run the tap to get cold water, we keep water in the fridge. We don't wash cars or water grass. We do water plants and garden in the summer. We turn off the tap while brushing our teeth. These are slight changes in our practices when we lived in the city and it is really an easy adjustment.