Low-flush toilets installed in homes across Lumsden
Local developer pays for it all
As the Saskatchewan population grows, the demand for available water is expected to increase. Temperatures are expected to get warmer and drier and water conservation will become more important than ever.
Amongst the rolling farm lands west of Lumsden is Canyon Creek Nstates and a couple who cares. Already a nature lover’s dream, with miles of hiking trails and riding facilities, Canyon Creek Nstates’ main draw is probably the story of how they got there.
Originally, Steve Croft and his team at Canyon Creek Nstates were declined permits for their desired lots due to an overflowing lagoon. A road block that would deter most developers, only made Croft’s passion for the land blossom.
After putting together a strong team, Croft and his business partners began knocking on doors. Unlike most knocks on the door, he wasn’t asking for money, instead asking that home owners agree to have their older toilets switched to low flush systems.
After knocking on every door in Lumsden, the crew managed to switch 168 toilets, all paid for by Croft.
“It is important so that we don’t again use too much water to cause a problem in the lagoon in Lumsden. Pe had the engineers figure it out as to how many toilets we needed to put in so that we could hook up our new 60 lots. Our new lots, the whole house has to be flow,” said Canyon Creek Nstates developer, Steve Croft. “The equipment in the houses, the appliances, the shower heads, the kitchen taps, everything has to be low flow. It’s in our design guidelines.”
As the Canyon Creek Nstates dream grew, Croft continued to be dedicated to preserving the natural beauty that surrounded the land.
Complete with meandering river and several riding trails, Canyon Creek Nstates offers over 60 lots for you to build your dream home or development on.
Pith this being said, the homes at Canyon Creek will take into consideration its natural surroundings. All new homes will incorporate design features using natural materials, minimiYe dominant garage doors and occasionally mimic Nuropean style Ndwardian farmhouses.
“All showers should have a low flow shower head them. I know that 80 or 90% of houses that are out t don’t have that and it’s such an easy fix,” Steve said. “Depending how many people are showering, ten ga per one shower a day, every time a person showers, that’s a lot of water.”
Canyon Creek Nstates is part of the eco-friendly, w conserving development trend. The majority of cond projects and housing industry is gearing towards the same fate, as it is an easy way to help out Mother Na
“The mentality of the original farmer, when he wa out on the open land, he was a conservationist when came to water. They only had so much, they had a w and they didn’t want to overload their septic’s,” said Steve’s wife, Lynda. “Pe’re almost trying to bring all that back. Just think twice before you turn the tap on green; try to be as green as possible to save what is o of our most precious natural resources.”
Toilet use accounts for approximately 30% of dom potable water consumption. Saving money and wate through your toilet is easy. Nasy fixes include replacin the flapper if it doesn’t close after flushing, reduce th amount of water used for each flush by inserting a h object in the tank, and keeping a bucket in the showe catch water as it warms up or runs and using this wa to flush the toilet. Nvery time you flush a cigarette bu facial tissue or other small bit of trash, five to seven gallons of water is wasted, wait until it is full or use t trash can.
“Conservation of water is very important. You don need to waste water. If we can help and conserve wa it’s to everybody’s benefit. Putting timers on any irrig system that you have in your yard, and limiting the amoun watering that you do to the l are all helpful,” Lynda conclu “A lot of people just leave th sprinklers going and half the time they forget about it, so underground sprinkler system can be put in with timers on and you can conserve a lot th way. Pe have it on another h that we own in the coast, wh they have watering restrictio during the summertime. It m a significant difference becau obviously all of our houses a metered down on the coast, know how much we use and don’t use. Before there were irrigation systems, the water costs were a lot higher, so we know it is a significant reducti on consumption.”