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Residential Sources 
Whether it’s flushing the toilet, washing clothes, having a shower or watering our lawn, we “use” a significant amount of water in our households each day. On average, we send approximately 500 litres of wastewater per person to our regional wastewater treatment plants every day. Find out more about what happens to this wastewater.

Improving our wastewater
Soap contains surfactants which are the cleaning agent in detergents and other cleaning products. These surfactants are potentially harmful to aquatic life and can’t all be removed by wastewater treatment plants. Click below for ways to improve our  wastewater.
Use less soap, get clean clothes and save money
Laundry detergents, one of the biggest sources of household surfactants, are designed to work in moderate to hard water. In the Greater Vancouver region – where we have soft water with few minerals in it – we can easily use less than the manufacturers recommend and still get clean clothes. Tip: Use a smaller scoop and try using half as much detergent.
Use less cleaning products
Nearly all cleaning products use surfactants and work better in soft water. Reducing your use of all cleaning products; dishwasher and laundry detergents, shampoo, hand cleansers, car wash and others will save you money and put less strain on the environment.
Use alternative cleaners
The good news is that natural and biodegradable cleansers often contain less phosphates, dyes, scent and chlorine, which are hard on you and the environment. However, they do contain surfactants.

Naturally derived surfactants, like olive or palm oil, will break down over time but they can still impact aquatic life, just like synthetic (man-made) surfactants. So keep up the good work, but just use less.

Wastewater treatment plants can’t remove everything we pour down the drain and some of it reaches the environment. Things you should avoid putting down the drain include:

  • excess paint (can be taken to a recycling depot)
  • harsh cleaners (try natural alternatives)
  • unused medications (these can go back to the pharmacy

 MetroVancouverRecycles.org - find places to safely dispose or recycle household cleaners, medication, paints and other hazardous waste.

Recycling Council of BC’s Toxic Toolkit has details on the environmentally damaging products we use around our homes, and offers alternatives. You can find it under Resource.

Metro Vancouver's Better Solutions brochure has great recipes for home cleansers, details on what not to put down the drain, and safe disposal information. Keep chemicals off you and out of the drain.

 Keep garbage out of the toilet

Our sewer system can’t handle a lot of the materials that some of us flush down the toilet. When baby wipes, disposable mop cloths, feminine hygiene products and other items go down the toilet they can clump together and form a large, solid mass. This mass then blocks pipes, which can damage equipment, cause sewage to overflow into the environment and ultimately, cost taxpayers money. In some cases, pipes at sewage pumping stations need to be manually unblocked two to three times every week to keep our system running.

Even many products that are labeled as flushable can cause big problems. Some of the top items that should not go down the toilet are:

  • Baby wipes
  • Disposable cleaning cloths
  • Disposable mop cloths and mop pads
  • Condoms
  • Pads, tampons (and applicators)
  • Dental floss
  • Grease and food
  • Hair

Help improve wastewater treatment by putting these items in the garbage, not the toilet. Or better yet, use a non-disposable option when possible. Food and grease can be composted – check with your municipality to find out about what is accepted in your organics collection program.
Expanding the wastewater system
To pay for new sanitary sewer works such as additional trunk lines and pumping stations in emerging Lower Mainland developments, Metro Vancouver applies Development Cost Charges (DCC) to new users in these areas.
 Development Cost Charges
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