1. Services for Residents
  2. Power, Water & Sewer
  3. SmartUTIL
  4. Be Water Wise

Be Water Wise

Save yourself money and protect the environment – Be Water Wise!

Water conservation (using water carefully) will help to keep your utility bill costs down. Careful water use can also help ensure that the City can meet the community’s water needs in the long term, even with a growing population.

Water conservation helps manage water demand to ease the strain on the City’s water system, especially during summer peak periods. By easing strains on our capacity-limited water system and creating opportunities to better manage and schedule our capital expenditures, we can potentially defer or reduce spending.

Water use can double during the growing season for outdoor watering. While gardens and lawns do require watering, water is often wasted due to over-watering and evaporation.

A graphic with a water drop character in a yard with the text "Be Water Wise, Outside!"

Monitoring Water Use

  • Use SmartUTIL to track home water use, set spending alerts, and find ways to reduce costs.

Efficient Watering Techniques

  • Water early in the day to minimize evaporation.
  • Your lawn needs 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week; try the tuna can test to figure out how long you need to run your sprinkler!
  • Install a rain barrel to collect rainwater for irrigation.

Outdoor Maintenance Without Water Waste

  • Sweep patios and decks instead of spraying them down.
  • Landscape mindfully—use native plants and ground covers to reduce runoff and improve water retention.
  • Use mulch—a four-inch layer slows evaporation and suppresses weeds.
  • Wash your car at a car wash instead of at home to save water and reduce pollution.

A graphic with a water drop character beside a kitchen sink with the text "Be Water Wise, Outside!"

 

 

Smart Water Use & Monitoring

  • Use SmartUTIL to track home water use, set spending alerts, and find ways to reduce costs.
  • Know your master water shut-off valve location in case of an emergency.

Preventing Waste & Home Conservation

  • Install low-flow/high-efficiency fixtures, such as high-efficiency shower heads and low-flush toilets.
  • Be mindful of time—shorten showers and reduce water use while bathing.
  • Use a cup when you brush your teeth—this can save up to 9,000 litres per person each year!
  • Run full loads only in your dishwasher and washing machine.
  • Fix leaks promptly—leaky faucets and toilets could cost you about 10% of your bill.
  • Use a toilet leak detector—add food coloring to the tank; if color appears in the bowl after 25 minutes, there's a leak.

Alternative Water Sources

  • Collect and use "grey water" from sinks for watering plants.

     

How is the City is conserving water?

How is the City is conserving water?

The City is finding ways to save water and money in its own operations. Work is underway to keep parks healthy by using less water and naturalizing more areas; advanced irrigation control systems and weather monitoring technologies can keep the grass healthy with less water, and water-saving fixtures are being installed in civic facilities.

The City is beginning work on the Spray Pad Water Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation (Public Cooling) Project. This project will run from 2025 to 2027 and aims to provide the public with equitable opportunities for cooling off and access to drinking water, especially during the extreme heat event periods. It will also help to increase the resiliency of the water and wastewater treatment systems by conserving water during the summer peak water demand period.

 

The project will:

  1. upgrade nozzles and add remote controllers to all spray pads for improved efficiencies; and,
  1. install shade structures, water fountains, and misting stations at six spray pad/paddling pool sites to help the community stay cool during extreme heat.

This work is funded by a $700,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund and the Government of Canada, as well as a $950,000 Green Loan, to be paid back with water bill savings.

The project builds on the success of two pilot projects conducted in 2023 and 2024 that helped save 25-40% of baseline water use and associated costs by upgrading existing nozzles in some spray pads with lower-flow and misting nozzles while maintaining 100% of the fun.

The City approved the Water Conservation Strategy in 2022. Providing the community with safe and high-quality drinking water is a top priority for the City of Saskatoon. A changing climate and aging water treatment infrastructure are risks to providing water services. Water conservation can help ensure that we can meet the community’s water needs in the long term, even with a growing population.