At Castlegar city council meeting on Tuesday, Suzanne Fordyce was introduced as the city's new water smart ambassador by Chris Barlow, director of transportation and civic works.
"For several years the city has been part of the water smart initiative through Columbia Basin Trust," said Barlow. "Part of that is hiring a water ambassador for the city. Suzanne is the successful applicant. She has a great background in conservation measures and a real passion for the environment I'd say. We're really happy to have her on as water ambassador."
She'll be doing audits of residents' and possibly business's properties, says Barlow. "She'll help people understand how to conserve water. She'll also help spread the word about water conservation to schools and at events such as Garden Fest."
Fordyce is a Selkirk College graduate and is looking forward to working with local residents with the water smart program.
"I am very excited to begin helping our community learn about water conservation at home, and to be able to make individually targeted recommendations to those who allow me to observe their outdoor watering habits," she said.
Fordyce got off to a running start, manning a booth at the Garden and Nature Festival on Saturday. She was able to meet with many local residents and ended up signing 28 for the program.
"I'll be going to people's homes and making sure their systems are watering as efficiently as they can whether they use underground irrigation or manual sprinkling. I have free hose timers, so you can set your hose so it shuts off after a given amount of time. I also have rain sensors for your irrigation system so it doesn't come on after it's rained."
The goal of the program is to reduce outdoor watering/irrigation over the summer by increasing residents' awareness of how much water is being used and how much is needed. The Water Smart Initiative team believes that by encouraging residents to be conservative with water usage, the city of Castlegar will be better able to meet its water use reduction goal of 20 per cent by 2015.
Anyone interested in booking an appointment, which is completely free, can call Suzanne at 250-687-4602 or email waterambassador@castlegar.ca.