Canadians' water attitudes hurting infrastructure: study
TORONTO - A new study suggests Canadians are unaware of the strain on urban water infrastructures and are reluctant to help ease the burden.
The Royal Bank of Canada's annual water attitudes study found 78 per cent of respondents believe their city's water infrastructure can handle challenges posed by urban development and stormy weather.
But the Federation of Canadian Municipalities says most systems aren't up to scratch and pegs the cost of improving them at $80 billion.
The RBC survey says many respondents aren't willing to ease the strain on city infrastructure by making landscaping changes at home.
The poll says using interlocking stone or gravel instead of paved driveways would lessen the toll on city systems during a storm, but 47 per cent of those surveyed still prefer paved surfaces.
The online survey of 2,282 people has no margin of error because the polling industry's professional body says Internet studies do not randomly sample the population.
