In times of drought, why are residential consumers ‘targeted’ with conservation measures?

As the worst drought in decades dragged on through the summer of 2025, some Nova Scotians who use municipal water supplies were asked and then ordered to stop watering lawns, washing cars and filling pools in the name of easing the strain on dwindling water sources.

The conservation measures were targeted at residential users, which generated resentment and resistance over a perceived double standard.

“Until they shut down golf courses, bottled water bottling plants, and other massive water using industrial uses, they can't expect anyone to not flush the toilet, etc.,” wrote one Reddit user in response to a CBC story in which Halifax Water urged residents to start conserving water or face mandatory restrictions.

However, a review of data provided by some municipal water utilities shows there’s good reason to target residential customers with conservation measures.

In most of Nova Scotia’s most populated areas, residential water use far outstrips that of industrial and commercial usage combined.

In the Halifax Regional Municipality, residential and multi-residential customers accounted for 63 per cent of water consumption in 2024-25. Commercial, institutional and industrial customers accounted for 20, 11 and five per cent, respectively, in the same year.

In Cape Breton Regional Municipality, residential users represented 72 per cent of the water use in 2024-25; in Kentville, figures for 2024 show small meter customers used 55 per cent of the water.

Bridgewater is the exception. There, commercial water customers just outpaced residential ones for total usage in 2024-25 by 52 per cent to 48. The commercial use is driven by the Michelin tire plant, which accounts for 28 per cent of the town’s water use.

Truro and New Glasgow don’t track commercial and residential consumption separately.

The complaint about commercial customers and water use is one that Halifax Water officials say they hear on a semi-regular basis. But spokesperson Brittany Smith said it’s a misunderstanding of how water conservation measures work.

“All the restrictions [that] apply to residential would have also applied to businesses as well,” she said in an interview.

She said that, for instance, if a business and a private home have flower gardens on their properties, neither would be able to water them.

She said the utility is also trying not to make the hardship of a drought any more of an economic crisis for business owners — and conversations are always underway about reducing overall consumption.

“We're really working to try to balance between conservation measures and financial impacts to businesses,” she said. “So we're working with those large-consumption users … to see which ways they could reduce their water consumptions and a more tailored approach depending on what their business is.”

Martin Tango, engineering professor at Acadia University, said the data usage makes sense given the sheer number of residential customers compared to commercial.

“At home, there's the dishwasher, there are laundries, and then there is the way you do your daily routine like brushing your teeth or or washing dishes in the sink,” he said.

He said water conservation measures may be inconvenient, but they’re an effective way of targeting high-consumption activities that won’t negatively impact the economy, people’s jobs, businesses or other parts of society.

Tango added that some commercial users like warehouses, stores and offices typically keep their consumption pretty low. Others, like golf courses, manufacturing facilities, car washes and breweries, need a lot of water to operate but the cumulative usage still remains below that of residential customers.

He adds that many commercial users pay water haulers or have irrigation ponds available to them in times of drought.

“There are some industrial consumers, if they have the lawn or if their property has space around the building, then they would hire landscaping companies to … irrigate the lawn,” he said.

Smith added that some of the water conservation practices of certain businesses are not known by the public.

“We were told that most car washes do use recycled water. So perhaps that might not be known by the general car wash user,” she said.

Future droughts

Despite the complaints, Smith said the mandatory conservation measures worked, with water usage falling between the order’s implementation in August to when it was fully lifted in November.

“We were happy that residential and commercial customers were able to reduce their consumption by around 10 per cent which really helped during the drought,” she said.

Smith said the utility has a 30-year plan that will invest in better infrastructure for harsher climate conditions.

Tango said if more frequent and intense droughts hit the province in the future, governments, industries and regular residents need water management solutions that go beyond usage restrictions.

But he said it’s most important for people to understand why water conservation is important year-round and not just during a drought.

“The most and very important thing is awareness,” he said. “If you empower me or if I buy into these water conservation measures, then I'll do the right thing time and time again. So if I do it, my neighbour will do it, my family member will do it.”

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