How does putting in a hardwood floor make your home more environmentally friendly?

And I'm surprised that the fewer people have installed a programmable thermostat. I really noticed savings month-after-month when I installed mine, and have heard similar comments from other people who have done the same.

who did they survey about water metering...........most people I know don't want it. It's just another way to tax us.

I always hear about BC residents being polled about stuff but no one has ever asked me anything. Never even heard of this poll. Do they really poll or just make stuff up. Or is it just 10 people they spoke with?

I've never been contacted and I am against water metering. It's simply another tax.

Now that I live in Grande Prairie Alberta the one thing that you will notice is that every lawn in the summer is mostly dirt or brown [dead] unless it rains.We pay for water here a family of four is usually running about 100. bucks a month.The lowest I've heard of is around 50. bucks a month.The car washes are a dollar for one minute most use their visa to pay and that runs about 20 bucks or so depending on how fast you are as well as how dirty your car is.I say do not play into the go green movement as it will cost you more than you know.With two fresh water rivers running through the city it's hard to swallow this pill.

Here we go again, another way to reach into our pockets.
Time for another shakeup at city hall come next election.

Making water worth money will increase criminal activity.
Headlines....Man arrested while filling 1000 gallon water tank from neighbours tap.

I support water metering. We are a wasteful society, and if we don't associate a cost with water, we are going to use more than we need. I would hazard a guess that most homes could reduce their water usage by about 50% by installing efficient shower heads and re-using grey water for irrigating lawns and flower beds. Of course, I think this should actually save the average family money, because our utility bills should be reduced by a greater amount than we pay for our water bill, since we are using less. This probably won't be the reality, however. Just another revenue stream (pun intended).

Thank you God again for my well and my sewer system!

Next it will be a fee for the air we breath.

British Columbia Real Estate Association
1420 – 701 Georgia Street West
PO Box 10123, Pacific Centre
Vancouver, BC V7Y 1C6

Phone: 604.683.7702
Fax: 604.683.8601
Email: bcrea@bcrea.bc.ca

Okay..I had to come back and post again here. I just can not believe that 66% poled want more taxes put on them. In this day and age where there are to many levels of government with their hands out. Come on??? Is this a left over April fools joke or the city trying to gently put forth the idea? We are over taxed when you add up all the increases just in PG alone between the regional district and the city. Then you have the provincial and federal levels. Then you have the carbon tax, fuel tax, alcohol tax, gst and provincial tax. We may as well visit all the increases that were forced on us with the utilities as well. For people to want more just does not seem right to me. *shaking head

"Next it will be a fee for the air we breath."

That would be a good idea.

I would refuse to pay and argue in court that I refuse since they do not meet the normal requirement of providing a product fit for the use it is intended. I would use as evidence the epidemiological studies and warnings put out by the government about the risks associated with low air quality.

There are virtually no such risks associated with water. When they do occur, such as the incident in Waterton, something is done about it, unlike air.

"I just can not believe that 66% poled want more taxes put on them"

I would think that they assume that the monthly utility bill, which covers water, would be reduced by the amount allocated to water.

I also then think that the majority believe they use less than the average amount and that they would, therefore, save money.

Finally, I think that some would feel that they are then in control and can reduce usage if they need to, while they cannot do anything to reduce the current charges for water.

If water usage is reduced in total in the city it might not have that much effect on the total cost of delivery.

We would then have to pay for the installation and maintenance of meters, as well as the cost of reading the meters, even though that might be done electronically as a drive by.

We still have infrasturcture in place - pumps, treament facilities, storage and pressure systems, pipes, etc. The costs of new installations and maintenance would not change.

If development cost charges are subsidized so that the full cost of servicing a new subdivision or a downtown dvelopment is not covered, then the rest of the water users may end up paying for that subsidy rather than it coming from general revenues.

As a result, it is very likely that the unit cost of water would rise with water meters.

As usual, there is more to this than meets the eye. And, as usual, the question is posed to an uninformed public, so the question is really meaningless. Except, of course, it is being used to lobby the public.

There should be some duty of care by the people who put out such polls. But hey, does anyone really care anymore about such trivial and detailed matters?

It makes the real estate organizations look and feel good. That's the main thing, isn't it?

I called the communications director for real estate BC and he said there were 600 respondents from all over the province. It seems that the respondents most in favor of a fee were not from major metro areas, rather from more rural areas.
So in a province of 4.1 million (2004), 80% of 600 voices in favor of charging us more fees. Not very statistically representative.

I still have never heard of this survey!

Here is an interesting thought - The City sends out letters to certain neighbourhoods and houses to tell them to run a steady stream of water as the waterlines are not deep enought and the homeowner will be charged for repairs even if the break is on the City property. This can run up to 4-6 months.

So now the City can really make money!

Thank you Loki for the information. :} All I can think of towards Kagee's information is "WOW, What a waste of water".

96% of the people I asked weren't asked in this survey. 85% of the people I talk to on a daily basis don't believe what is written when it comes to polls. 100% of me wishes these pollsters would ask me these questions. Liars! But then again, that's not nice to call them that. I recant. Instead they are speakers of untruths. The only poll that counts is in the voting booth. Let's vote on it.

If we dont use the water here and in Quesnel and Williams Lake, what do you think happens to it.??? It flows into the Ocean and is turned into salt water, and I guess it helps to make the fish happy.

The BS about saving water is a bunch of crap. We have lots and most of what is used in showers, washing clothes, dishes, etc. goes through the sewer system and back into the river.

The real story here is that the use of water can be metered and a charge made. Once we build the water facility then it is the cost of running the equipment, and manning that has to be paid for. The City has overbuilt the water system in Prince George, and has extended the water lines in every direction for miles and miles.

The latest was up Foothills to connect water with the sub division that will be built beside the road that will go into the proposed new golf course. These types of projects costs taxpayers Millions of dollars, and the benefactors are the developers.

Its like Hydro telling you to preserve energy. Why???? Because they can sell it to the Americans for a much higher price than locally. So shut off your lights and sit in the dark, and let Hydro and Campbell make big bucks. Give me a break.

The same Horse Crap applies to reducing the amount of fuel you use. Does anyone really beleive that the Oil companies want you to use less fuel.??? Using fuel is how they make their money. If we dont burn the fuel, then guess what. They sell it into Countrys that will burn it. At the end of the day the fuel will be gone. So you can burn yours now, or have someone else burn it for you, either way it will be burned.

I'm going to McEwen Springs right now and put a locked cage around it.

Palopu has it right on. Myself, I have wondered for years about this 'preserve the environment' movement when it comes to water usage. After all, is the water gone forever when we finish using it? Maybe the ones behind this movement think that once the water goes down the drain it is lost forever, never to be seen again. I have to laugh when I stay in a hotel and see those cute little signs in the bathroom about saving the planet, "don't use the water or the towels so there will be a planet left for the children" Uh, yeah, right.
metalman.

Ya right. Next survey coming out will say that 100% of B.C. wants to pay more taxes!

"WOW, What a waste of water".

I have been trying hard all my life to waste water and have still not found a way to do it.

I sprinkle the lawn and find that some percolates back through the soil and ends up topping off the local water table. Some gets taken up by the grass and tranpirates into the air and becomes part of the cloud formation process or dew formation process. If I overwater greatley, such as running a sprinkler on the front lawn and some gets onto the pavement, then it either evasporates or heads off into the storm sewer system and into the river.

I might waste "pumped and stored" water and "treated" water, but I absolutely do not waste water. It is aliver and well and will come back for use on another day. The rising sea level will attest to that. It is one of our renewable resources.

What rising sea level? Where? How high? Who measured it? Be specific. Maybe your are thinking of what they call a tide. The rise and fall. Yeah, that is what you meant. Right? Kinda like the Bay of Fundy?