Case study: 1121 Steeles Ave, Toronto

Water costs in Toronto have climbed steadily, and for multi-unit residential buildings, there is often very little that property managers can do about it. Consumption is driven by hundreds of individual residents, infrastructure runs continuously, and municipal billing offers no mechanism to account for the air entrainment and pressure irregularities that cause water meters to record more volume than is actually consumed. For most buildings, rising water bills are simply accepted as a fixed cost of operation.

1121 Steeles Avenue is a multi-unit residential building in Toronto, Ontario. The property operates on a 4-inch valve with a benchmark monthly consumption of 4,400 m³.

Canadian Water Savings installed the Smart Valve™ ahead of the September 2018 billing cycle. What followed was one of the most dramatic and consistent results in the program’s history in Toronto. In the very first month, the building recorded a 10% reduction. From there, the results accelerated. By month four, the property was consuming nearly half the water it had previously, with savings reaching 48.9%,  a reduction of over 2,100 m³ in a single billing period, worth more than $8,000. That performance was matched almost exactly the following month.

What makes this case study particularly compelling is not just the magnitude of the savings, but their consistency. Across six consecutive months of tracked data, the Smart Valve™ exceeded its minimum guaranteed performance every single time. The program’s structure means the building owner assumes no financial risk, Canadian Water Savings only succeeds when the client saves money.

Every month exceeded the minimum guaranteed savings threshold. Over the six months measured, the property saved a total of more than $30,800, with zero capital outlay and zero disruption to building operations.