There were both gains and losses made in 2012 when it comes to environmental sustainability for the Town of Canmore.
The community has seen a small reduction in residential water consumption, but small increases to corporate and community greenhouse gas (GHG) levels and residential waste over 2011 numbers, according to the municipality’s annual environmental sustainability plan report.
Sustainability coordinator Lori Rissling Wynn said even though corporate emissions have increased, by purchasing green power the Town is close to meeting its 2020 goals in the Environmental Sustainability Action Plan.
“With respect to applying that renewable energy certificate, that 60 per cent green power purchase brings our corporate emissions down almost to meeting our 2020 goals,” she said.
Facility improvements in 2012 to help reduce greenhouse gases for the corporation include window and garage door replacements and installing LED exterior light replacements. The municipal fleet of cars also operates with an anti-idling policy and the Town has been purchasing green cars, Rissling Wynn said.
The small increase overall in municipal GHGs, however, was not “a significant jump.” The goal is to reduce corporate emissions by 50 per cent from the 2007 level by 2020. In 2012, the Town’s total GHG emissions was slightly less than 5,000 tonnes.
Community emissions increased slightly as well, for a total of 176,000 tonnes – or 9.7 tonnes per person per year. The 2020 goal in ESAP sets out 8.8 tonnes per person per year.
“Thankfully, it is not trending up even more than it is,” Rissling Wynn said, adding the Sustainable Action Canmore Program may be a reason for that. Activities of the program included replacing incandescent bulbs, home heating reduction, furnace maintenance and filter maintenance.
She said participation in the 2012 community challenge also helped.
When it comes to residential waste put in the landfill, the amount of garbage per person was .46 tonnes, which is close to meeting 2020 target of 0.45 tonnes, even though it is slightly up from 2011 numbers with 8,506 tonnes landfilled in 2012 compared to 8,161 the year before.
“In Canmore with respect to the number of facilities and recycling opportunities we have available to our residents, we actually have a fantastic diversion rate compared to other communities,” Rissling Wynn said, adding that without an organics diversion program the community is reaching 49 per cent diversion.
In terms of water conservation, the municipality has a target of reducing water losses from the distribution system to 10 per cent or less by 2015. While the Town has ongoing leak detection and a water line repair and replacement program, the percentage loss in the system has been steadily increasing since 2006 when it was at 15 per cent to about 23 per cent in 2012.
“We are trying to be diligent in terms of how much pipe we replace each year and hopefully over time we will see that decrease,” Rissling Wynn said.
Community targets for water consumption were quite positive, with Canmore residents already below the 2020 goal of 133 litres per day per person. Residents used 121 litres per day per person on average last year.
Corporate pesticide use was up in 2012, but it was less than 10 litres of active ingredients per hectare used. Rissling Wynn said it was a small amount targeted in the Three Sisters area, which has sat inactive and vacant over the past few years, “so weeds have really taken off in that part of the community.”
The Town only uses chemicals to spray weeds that it is required to eliminate under the Weed Control Act.
Rissling Wynn said annual reporting of performance indicators from ESAP is key to assessing the success of strategies and actions taken to improve sustainability.
“We think of ourselves as a leader in this area and it is good to see we are living up to some of our expectations and will be living up to the rest in time,” said Mayor John Borrowman.
