Who uses the most water in Vancouver?

A list of Vancouver's top-50 water users in 2007, obtained by The Vancouver Sun through freedom-of-information legislation, shows that the Molson Canada brewery on Burrard Street easily led the way by using 1,052,286 cubic metres of water in 2007.

Vancouver brewery manager Rene Holt said in response that about 80 per cent of the water is used for various cleaning and pasteurizing processes, with the other 20 per cent returned as beer.

Roger's Sugar Ltd.'s refinery on Burrard Inlet ranked second overall, listed at 928,350 cubic metres in 2007.

Jan With, the refinery's lab and environmental manager, confirmed that the process of refining raw brown sugar imported from Guatemala into the white sugar familiar to consumers is a water-intensive process.

The Port of Vancouver took fifth and eighth spots with two connections to the water supply -- 367,127 cubic metres -- on Salsbury Drive, including West Coast Reduction, and 285,086 cubic metres on Renfrew.

Vancouver General Hospital facility maintenance and operations on West 12th Avenue took sixth spot at 309,018 cubic metres, followed by Canada Place Corp. (including the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre and The Pan Pacific Hotel) at 287,183 cubic metres.