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Water consumption at resident fingertips

Okotoks can now track their household water use online with a new water meter portal on the Town of Okotoks’ website. The new water portal allows residents to watch for trends and spikes in water use in their households. The portal launched on Jan.
Residents can tap into their water use through an online portal at www.okotoks.ca.
Residents can tap into their water use through an online portal at www.okotoks.ca.

Okotoks can now track their household water use online with a new water meter portal on the Town of Okotoks’ website.

The new water portal allows residents to watch for trends and spikes in water use in their households. The portal launched on Jan. 2 and as of Jan. 12, 138 residents had signed onto the new system.

Melanie Heemeryck, Okotoks communications specialist, said it’s a way for people to be accountable for their own water use.

“If you’re wanting to really monitor it, you can set your own thresholds,” she said. “So if you want to spend ‘x’ amount for water, you can monitor daily when you go over that level of use and be mindful of your water, and set it to email you when you go over that usage.”

Heemeryck said the water portal allows people to see trends and patterns from month to month or the difference between weekdays and weekends, or different seasons.

“During testing I set mine really low so I could tell, in my household, when there was just even a shower in the morning,” she said.

The portal was developed as a tool to help Okotoks maintain its position as a leader in sustainability, said Heemeryck. In addition to replacing water meters to be more efficient over the past few months, the new technology allows residents to manage and lower their water use, she said.

Okotoks currently has an average use of 173 litres of water per capita per day, versus the national average rate of 223 liters per day. Heemeryck said the new tools will allow the Town to keep that low use statistic.

It can also help residents save money, she said.

“Our utility fees are directly linked to usage, and knowing we’re a sustainable community being responsible for water as a sustainable resource, the portal is a great tool to help customers save money,” said Heemeryck.

The portal also allows for the Town to send notifications and messages to its residents, including utility fee rates and summer watering schedules, she said.

For more information visit www.okotoks.ca.

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