Ok. The EPA estimates that the average American uses 82 gallons a day as of 2015, which comes out to 310L.

EPA link

By contrast, McGill University cites that the average Canadian uses around 329L a day.

McGill water usage page

Montreal, specifically as an unmetered water city, estimates 327L a day.

City of Montreal annual water usage report

I'll grant you that Montreal does seem to have slightly higher usage per capita. But I'm not sure the extra pain in the ass of managing water meter infrastructure would be meaningful to reduce water usage to be in line with metered locations, when we're talking about a difference of 17L a day.

That's not empirically true. I pay for water as a flat rate in Quebec as part of my municipal taxes, as do all of my neighbors, and I don't see people engaging in flagrant water wastage. Lawns routinely go yellow during the hottest parts of the summer, I rarely see people washing their cars, and low flush toilets are getting increasingly common.

Anecdotally, it would seem so.

I think it depends on the root of the hatred. An awful lot of hatred comes from ignorance, and when people dispell the ignorance, the hatred follows.

But sometimes the hatred is so fundamental to someone's lived experiences that even if it's obviously wrong, it's absolutely true to them. In those cases, I suspect it would be harder to let go of it.

Broadly speaking, yes, having a mentor is a good idea. However, finding a mentor, a good one, is pretty challenging.

I feel like the pragmatic solution is just to try and find a good team. A good team will provide a learning environment for all of the best practices and technical skills.

There are a few mentor sites, but honestly, I've had pretty hit or miss results with them. You'd likely have to do some trial and error before finding the right fit.