I'm doing my best to keep it green. I've got a few acres in the country, and I let as much of it naturalize as I can. I cut a path through the long grass so we can walk, and only cut the front lawn.

Because I live in the country, I'm on a well and have a septic system. All the water I use comes from the aquifer beneath my home. Eventually it's returned to that aquifer—I don't take it for granted, and I don't waste water.

I don't water the grass—that's what rain's for—and I collect water in rain barrels for the flowers. Using well water for irrigating a lawn is just stupid.

Water is a big concern of mine. In fact, I think it's going to be the biggest concern for all of us, globally, into the future. In Canada the average person uses over 300 litres of water per day—or 1,600 cubic metres of water per person per year. That's more than twice the average daily use in Europe and many, many times more than what I saw in Africa. We are shockingly wasteful. It's got to stop.

Grey-water recycling is a technology we all need to adopt to help conserve water.

Why not collect all grey water that's used in the house and make it available for toilet flushing, for car washing and landscape irrigation? That alone would make such a huge impact across our nation in terms of saving on water use. Add rainwater collection to that and the impact is even greater.

How does it make any sense at all to use pure, clean drinking water to flush a toilet?

Grey water is water that results from showers and baths, laundry and dishwashers. It is not "black water" like toilet water. The grey water is collected, filtered, purified, and can be used as non-potable water.

By implementing grey-water recycling we can reduce domestic water consumption by at least 30%. And, it will reduce domestic sewage and waste water by the same amount.

Believe it or not, grey-water recycling is not allowed everywhere in the country. Most municipalities don't even have a policy on it—every homeowner who wants to incorporate it in their renovation or new build needs to do so on a case-by-case basis. That makes it complicated and people can't be bothered with the hassle.

Let's make it easy for people. And let's give builders an incentive to use it in their developments. If it's a hassle for people to buy into new technology—even if it saves money or saves the environment—they aren't going to go for it.

There are water shortages around the world. Even in Canada—the country with one of the largest supplies of freshwater on our entire planet—there are concerns about development because of potential future water shortages.

It's time we take a stand on this issue and lead the way. I think grey-water recycling should be mandatory in all new home construction and made a part of building code. Let's make a change. All new residential developments can incorporate this today. What are we waiting for?