When: Sunday, September 28th, media event at 12:30pm
Where: Masaryk Park, 220 Cowan Ave (west of Dufferin, south of Queen St.)

Toronto – On Sunday, September 28th, hundreds of local residents from Parkdale will gather at Masaryk Park to celebrate the inauguration of their new rainwater harvesting system.

“This is ground-breaking in Toronto,” says Shannon Thompson, Greenest City’s Director. “We hope that our 1,550-gallon (5,867 L) water storage tank and great partnership with the Parks Department is the beginning of a new era where Toronto stops flushing money and sustainability down the drain.”

The big green tank will collect rainwater from the huge metal roof of Parkdale’s Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre, with a pipe to channel rain from the roof into the cistern (that will weigh 13,000 pounds full!), and then the water will be gravity-fed into the HOPE community food garden where a hand pump will let people water plants with soft, chlorine-free rainwater.

Not only the plants will love it. “Harvesting rainwater saves the City money and reduces our greenhouse gas emissions,” says local City Councillor Gord Perks. “Few people realize that running the water supply system accounts for a staggering one third of Toronto’s municipal electricity bill – that’s $47 million in electricity costs every year. Not to mention ten percent of the City’s total green house gas emissions.”

It’s numbers like these that have driven policy and financial support of rain harvesting in other countries. “Rainwater harvesting and reuse is required in new buildings in Germany, parts of Australia, Japan and India,” says Hampton Group Consulting and RiverSides founder Kevin Mercer. “Greenest City is demonstrating the grassroots leadership Toronto needs to retrofit existing buildings with rain harvesting to save electricity, reduce stormwater pollution, and lessen the demand for expanded infrastructure to accommodate Toronto’s growing population.”

Greenest City was awarded $3,000 to set up the system from a program called WaterWorks, sponsored by the American magazine, Organic Gardening. “Our goal with the WaterWorks Project is to raise awareness of water conservation and provide community gardeners with a simple, low-tech and eco-friendly way to keep their plots healthy, and provide a beautiful and productive space that brings the whole community together,” says the Editor of Organic Gardening, Scott Meyer.

The new system will be unveiled at Greenest City's FOOD, EARTH, and CULTURE FESTIVAL, featuring free food, music and eco-activities. Featured guests at the event will include MPP Cheri DiNovo, Councillor Gord Perks, Organic Gardening’s Scott Meyer, and of course kids to do the watering!

For further information, please contact:
Shannon Thompson, Director of Projects, Greenest City, 416-922-7626, www.greenestcity.net

Some pictures from the project: