Cost of connecting to the system: We're going to be charging $0.65/day just to be hooked up to the water system, even if you use NO water. By comparison, the phone company charges about $26 per month although you do get your local calls included in this. The power company charges about $15 as a flat fee per month although they can spread the cost of the power grid over thousands of connected customers. So we're probably about on par with the other utilities on this one.
Cost of water: Our system is going to charge $1 per cubic meter (m3). That's 1000 litres and works out to $0.001 per litre. That's one tenth of a cent per litre. Today, in our area, gasoline sells for about $1.10/litre, milk is about $1.50/litre and a cheap Aussie wine is going for about $17/litre. Electricity is in the neighbourhood of 7 cents per kilowatt hour. At our house, during the summer, we probably spend about $50/month for electricity. The real comparison? You can do without or cut back on everything I've listed here EXCEPT the water. Yup - water is the cheapest item here and it's also the most essential. You would die without it.
Now everyone knows how much water you're using: At the gas pumps, we regularly watch other customers fill up with gas and I assume other people notice how much gas I'm getting...or do they? We're so used to filling up the car we probably don't even pay attention anymore. But we could...if we wanted. If you're filling up next to a Hummer sometime, watch for how much gas the owner needs, and, if you're feeling frisky, make a comment about it. The phone company measures every minute of your calls, the power company meters every KwH of electricity and Esso certainly won't let you have any gas unless it's measured by the gas pump thing. More to the point, as part of a system that we run ourselves and on which we all depend, excessive users of water are a concern to all of us.
The problem, in much of the "developed" world, is that water has been seen as cheap and plentiful and we've come to believe that it should be free. Well, maybe not "free" but certainly "cheap". Some consumers just can't understand why we should be metering it and charging for what we use.
Can't we just run the pumps 24/7? Then we wouldn't need water restrictions: I can't really take this suggestion seriously, mostly because it's only been made by individuals who don't involve themselves in cleaning filters, turning the pumps on and off or helping to maintain the system.
There's lots of water in the Lake: The same claim was made about the number of cod in the Atlantic, the amount of oil in the ground, the ability of the oceans to dilute our wastes and the atmosphere to absorb whatever we spewed into it. None of these statements were true and were obviously shortsighted. The main problem with all that water in the Lake is exactly that - it's in the Lake. It needs to be pumped, filtered, treated, tested, stored, and distributed. Plus, in our system, the whole thing is run and maintained by volunteers, so we're not even paying the "real" cost of the whole process. These days, it shouldn't be necessary to mention that just because we happen to have lots of a resource doesn't mean we can justify wasting it.
Fairness: Under the current flat-rate system, everyone pays the same amount no matter how much water he or she uses. Obviously, each household's water use is different. As well, the volunteer help to run the system varies widely, from no help at all by some to many dozens of hours of work by others. To put it simply, households using more water than any others and individuals contributing no help to the system are being subdized by people who use less water and contribute hours of labour. It's time everyone paid their own way.
This is BC. No one is metering and there's lots of water: Hmmm - there may be lots of water in some parts of the province but, aside from what we are required to do to it to meet government water quality regulations, the fact is that many communities are starting their own meter programs quite frankly because they are facing a supply or a capacity crisis. The recent news has had several stories making this very point. Some of those communities are not that far away.
It has been interesting through this whole process, so far, to see the range of reactions to water metering. It's all part of the education and acclimitization process, I guess. I don't know of anyone who ever reads his or her own electric meter just to see how much running their stereo is costing. We just use it. If we're feeling thrifty or conservation-minded, we install CF lights and insulate the hot water heater. I expect in a year or so everyone will stop worrying about the water meter. The quarterly bills will remind each of us that water is a commodity with a supply cost and a value. Hopefully we'll all act accordingly.
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