Whitehorse residents could soon find themselves paying for water, city councillors say.

City councillor Florence Roberts said Thursday council has had some discussions on moving Whitehorse toward a metered water system for houses, where residents would be billed based on the amount of water they use.

'We have talked about it informally and I do believe that's the way to go,' she said in an interview.

'I think we're the biggest wasters of water. People will find out what they're really using, and they'll pay for it.'

Roberts also said the idea of a more sustainable use of water came up during the planning of Whistle Bend, a sustainable community set for the lower Porter Creek bench.

Coun. Dave Austin said he too favours moving the city toward a metrred water system for residential areas.

'I would (support going to a metered system). In fairness, I've always been big on user-pay.

'The more you use, the more you pay,' he said.

Austin said he's seen people in his neighbourhood leave their lawn sprinklers on all day. He doesn't feel that is a good use of a public resource.

'That's not very responsible.'

Mayor Bev Buckway said she also supports a user-pay system with municipal water.

'If we had a water meter, people would pay more attention to how much they're wasting,' she said.

'As a single person, I pay the same amount for water as a family of six people.'

Coun. Dave Stockdale said he would favour the move to a metered system provided there was some protection for the pocketbooks of young families.

He said he'd like to see the system have a base number of litres for people to use, then charge households after they exceed the limit.

'You have to make it equitable.'

Stockdale said with the city looking to grow, it's just a matter of time before Whitehorse has to move in the direction of more responsible water use.

'If we can reduce consumption, then we don't have to expand the system.'

According to a 2003 University of Victoria report Flushing Our Future? Examining Urban Water Use in Canada Whitehorse has one of the highest per-capita consumption rates of domestic water in the country.

'A survey of 20 selected Canadian cities across the nation shows a significant variation in both domestic and total daily municipal water use per capita.

'In terms of per capita daily domestic use, Charlottetown (156 litres), Yellowknife (164 litres), and Iqaluit (167 litres) were the lowest users, while Hamilton (470 litres), Whitehorse (519 litres), and St. John's (659 litres) were the highest.

'The survey found that individual metering and the use of volume-based pricing (where customers are charged according to the amount of water they use) generally corresponded with lower water use.'

The report - www.polisproject.org/polis2/PDFs/FlushingFuture.pdf - states, on average, Canadians' use of domestic water exceeds that of many European nations, and demand is increasing.

'The average Canadian served by a municipal water system used 326 litres per day compared with 128 litres in Germany, 130 in the Netherlands, and 149 in the United Kingdom.

'Such high levels of urban water use have resulted in expensive supply and disposal infrastructure expansions, ecological impacts in developed areas where environmental stresses are already high, and increasing pressure on water treatment facilities to treat all water to drinking quality standards,' the report states.

The report also states that municipal water use makes up 12 per cent (1996) of total consumption of water in Canada, with 52 per cent of water being drawn from urban systems going to household use.

In Whitehorse, according to the report, domestic water use makes up 67 per cent of total municipal water use.

The remainder of water use in Canada, based on 1996 figures, includes 64 per cent for thermal power generation, one per cent for mining, 14 per cent for manufacturing, nine per cent for agriculture.

Brian Crist, the city's director of operations, said the city currently uses 50 million litres of water per month.

He said Whitehorse currently meters commercial water users, but not residential consumers.

Crist said while the city has traditionally used Schwatka Lake as its primary water source, another well completed earlier this month has enabled the city to supply nearly all of its water needs from the Selkirk Aquifer in Riverdale.

The underground water supply, he said, only has chlorine added and is very clean.

He said while the city does have high consumption rates, some of the water being calculated is being used in winter bleeders, which allow water to keep flowing and prevents city water pipes from freezing.

Wayne Tuck, the city's engineering manager, said the city has been able to switch many of the old free-flow bleeders which allow for a constant flow of water through city pipes to temperature-controlled bleeders which shut on and off depending on how cold it is.

He said the city does have a lot of treated water wasted by people washing their vehicles and driveways and watering their lawns for long periods of time.

Tuck said he encourages people to conserve water by turning off the tap when they brush their teeth, only water their lawns for short periods of time, keep drinking water in the refrigerator and not washing down their driveways.

'It costs to treat it, chlorinate it and pump it.'