North Cowichan - The Cowichan Watershed Board recently quoted a 2011 survey of Cowichan households which indicated that 92 per cent of respondents agreed that it is important to conserve water. Realistically, who would disagree? But, as has been said in the past, there is an elephant in the room - the Crofton pulp and paper mill, which draws their water directly from the Cowichan River.
We've been challenged to reduce our personal consumption by 25 per cent and it has been noted that residents in Germany use 120 litres of water per person per day.Personal water consumption is only part, maybe a small part, of the water drawn from the Cowichan aquifer.We need to know how many litres per day that the Crofton Mill draws from the Cowichan River. If water consumption per person per day in Germany is held out as a standard, then how much water does a pulp and paper mill in Germany consume per day per ton of product produced?It's not wise to accept a challenge when we do not have the full picture.Chris EllawayNorth Cowichan