By Sr MaryAnne fcJ, member of the FCJ Toronto community.
On the 5th of June of this year the City of Calgary experienced a catastrophic break in the main water distribution pipe for the city. This led to the city having access to only 40% of its usual supply of water. An emergency was declated and the city was placed under the highest level water restrictions. No outdoor watering of gardens, no swimmng pools, no outdoor sports at all. People were asked to conserve water as much as possible. The vast majority of people were very cooperative, and this included (you will not be surpised to hear) the FCJ community. You can read more about this event.
The repairs were made and the restrictions were lifted, however more faults were detected and the city decided to make the necessary repairs and have another planned period of water restrictions. This was around the time when I arrived to visit the FCJ community at the FCJ Christian Life Centre.
Some of the suggested actions from our community were:
- Scrape plates before putting in the dishwasher instead of rinsing
- Use any left over water in jugs at the dinner table to water the house plants
- Take shorter showers. This one was particularly hard for me – I love my hot shower in the morning!
- Flush the toilet less frequently, or as someone said succinctly: “If it’s yellow let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down!”
- Collect the cold water that runs in the shower before it gets hot, and use it elsewhere.
- Never leave the tap running
- Make sure you have a full load before putting the washing machine or dishwasher on.
Many of us who live in FCJ houses already do some of these actions, some of the time, but having the restrictions in place made us even more aware of the need to be vigilant about our water use. I was touched by the efforts to not waste a single bit of water. I wonder what will happen in our house, and across the city now that the restrictions are lifted? Some of the actions are easily continued, although we are delighted to be able to water the garden!
Given that we are in the Season of Creation with the theme To Hope and Act with Creation, I started to think about what else uses up (or wastes) water in my life. I used the Water Footprint Network website to help me. The amount of water that my daily life uses is enormous. From the production of my food to the making of the textiles for my clothing; from the water needed in the fracking process to that involved in making any paper product. It is good to know the facts so that I can ACT hopefully to reduce my impact on Earth’s limited resources, then I will truly be ‘treading the Earth lightly.’
As these and other emergencies become more frequent in a world in climate crisis, how can we start to live differently today?
Contributor Sr MaryAnne fcJ is from Malta and has just finished her postgrad studies in spirituality and ecology at Regis St Michael’s Faculty of Theology, Toronto, and will soon start working at the FCJ Spirituality Centre in London. Follow FCJ Spirituality Centre on facebook to find out about their current offering.
