By Chris Moss

The District of Sooke and the CRD Juan de Fuca electoral region are both considering the impact of more housing in response to edicts from the Provincial Government. In the Juan de Fuca  Electoral Area this means 202 new homes in the next five years and more than 1200 new homes in the next twenty years.

When it comes to water there will be impacts on both the piped water CRD system and the domestic wells and aquifers where piped water is not available.  It may not be possible to provide water for all of these new housing developments. More demand on piped water may reduce the water pressure during peak times. Greater demand is usually met with great charges for a scare commodity, and piped water users can expect greater metering and charges, perhaps “two tier” charges as we now get on our BC Hydro bills. But there is a way to avoid excessive water rates over the long term and reduce the demand on the CRD pipe water system at the same time.  Municipalities and Districts have the option of requiring items within a building permit.  For example, if new housing (in its many forms) were required to have metal roofing and rainwater harvesting systems then the major expense of water consumption in the summer months would be greatly reduced for the home owner.

When I look at the asphalt roofing on many houses in Sooke, I wonder why such a roofing material is being used in our climate.  It is not ideal. You spend money to put the roof on and then spend money for the next twenty years spraying it with toxic herbicides to stop moss from growing on it.  You spend time and money cleaning the washed-off grit, oils and glues out of your eavestroughs every year. You cannot use the water that comes off your roof because it contains petrochemicals and glues, and those chemicals from thousands of roofs are washed into the ocean every year.

A metal roof will cost twice to three times as much as an asphalt roof, but the long term benefits are many.  There is no chemical leaching from metal, they are “slick” surfaced and clean themselves, they will last for the life of the house, say seventy years, without having to be replaced.  Reroofing your house once with another shingle roof will be the same total cost as the initial cost of a metal roof.

From a metal roof you can collect rainwater and use it for whatever you need outside your home and the “cost” of that water is zero once you have the tank(s) and piping– rainwater is free.

Oh, and did I mention one big advantage? Metal roofs are fireproof.

All it would take is a change to building permits to provide a way to build houses with a reliable source of free water and reduce the maintenance cost on your roof for the life of your home.   It would also lessen the overland water during heavy rain events as well as provide a source of water during droughts. Maybe we should be asking why such obvious benefits are not being required.