“Here, I can turn on a tap and clean drinking water comes out,” says Sam. “In Kenya, it’s a big deal if any water comes out. Often tap water is brown and undrinkable. Not every household has access to hot water, either.” Sam notes that in her country, where droughts can last for 8 months of the year, people are more conscious of their water use and consumption. “If you take a long shower in Kenya, your brother won’t be able to have one at all.”
One afternoon, Sam was washing dishes in her campus residence when she suddenly realized how her Kenyan and Canadian experiences could come together to promote water conservation.
Sam met with Tania Del Matto, Director of St Paul’s GreenHouse and learned that as a community, St. Paul’s continually strives to become more environmentally friendly. Together with GreenHouse Project Coordinator, Sean Campbell, Tania helped Sam make connections with researchers, community partners and other students who shared her interest. One of these was Lauren Smith, a Master’s level student in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED). “GreenHouse is a space where you can meet like-minded individuals who are interested in making a positive difference by using an entrepreneurial perspective,” says Sam. “They got me in touch with the people I needed to make my idea happen.”
Sam and Lauren decided to adapt commonly used programs for energy monitoring and energy use reduction to encourage awareness and reduction of water usage at St. Paul’s. Their project involves the installation of water metres on student showers, along with competitions and community-based social marketing techniques to encourage behavioural change among residence students. Sam and Lauren will work with the Dons to create competition between residence floors, with prizes for the greatest water reduction. They also plan to use social media to encourage students to post photos about reducing water consumption.
With an abundance of fresh water, Canadians use more water per capita than any country other than the U.S. Unlike many home utilities, residence fees don’t detail water usage. Sam and Lauren hope to raise awareness and give students tools to reduce water usage, helping those who care about the environment put their passion into action.
“I’ve had people ask me how water reduction helps others,” says Sam. “Taking shorter showers doesn’t directly affect people in sub-Saharan Africa but it does affect water availability for future generations. Students at St. Paul’s understand that the point of community is to be better community members. Our project gives them a way to do that.”
- by Susan Fish