View Full Version : Water is way too cheap!
It wound up this summer that we never turned on our sprinkler system. The only supplemental watering I did was the drip for the garden, and a few times I watered the new fruit trees and shrubs (we are attempting Haskaps and another round of raspberries).
I was curious to see what the difference was with last year, which was a moderate summer in terms of moisture; the late-summer flood notwithstanding. It turns out we used in the ballpark of about 10X more water with the sprinkler system on than off. The difference with the bill? Less than half. How is 10X more water less than double the cost??? I know there's automatic fees and taxes just for the water service, which is fine, but I'm thinking "this is a pittance!" OTOH, this is a great argument against privatization: just for the internet, it's about 3X the (regular) water bill and while fairly reliable, not 100%. I have never turned on the water and not had it work. The water comes out fresh for drinking or whatever, every time. The ONE time we got close to having a boil water order (and some people did in parts nearby) was during a major natural disaster.
But back to the cheapness of water. Well, no wonder every yard is green, green grass! Instead of, say, native wildflowers like my yard. No wonder the neighbors start watering in like March or early April, between snow storms. Instead of starting mid-June at earliest. No wonder the city waters the soccer fields so much, mushrooms grow everywhere on it. This is in a semi-arid climate, where the yearly precip is ~15 inches per year and highly variable. Of course people waste water when it's cheap. If it worked such that a fairly normal use for a family per month was a reasonable cost, but then it got more expensive per unit beyond that, we'd see a lot more conservation. Farmers, growing things we eat, might get more of a chance to grow stuff to eat (and feed their own families, and have a more stable income) instead of every house on every street having an emerald lawn that never gets touched except to spray chemicals to kill weeds and bugs and spew pollutants into the air to mow it down. So they can water it. So the weeds grow. So they get sprayed. So the grass can grow. So it can be mowed.
Sigh.
Water, oil, corn, soybeans, electricity, coal, transportation (see oil), yada, yada, yada... Its all way too cheap, but the bargain will be relatively short lived. Come back in a generation and ask our kids what's cheap.
I help run our village's system, I am the head of the organization. We serve ~1100 members, and have a system of many wells, several reservoirs, and several treatment plants, with a desal system going online.
Rate setting is an interesting proposition.
The cost of providing water to our members (we are a member-owned cooperative) is largely dominated by the capital and operating costs of the system, a cost that remains relatively constant even if no water is used. our incremental production and distribution cost for a gallon of water is tiny.
Yet if everyone used "too much" water, we would have hugely increased capital costs as we would have to put new sources online and a bunch of other expensive reactions.
Simply looking at your rate as a per-gallon figure masks the complexity of what is really going on.
We have a tiered rate structure to discourage insane water use, which works OKish, but the whole rate determination scheme is really a black art, I have been to regional water system conferences, and it is a Hard Problem.
Gardenarian
9-26-14, 11:17am
The way water is figured here, you end up paying the same the same amount every month no matter how much you use. Everyone has been conservative in their water use, but it's frustrating to be so frugal with water use and never see a reduction in our bill.
awakenedsoul
9-26-14, 4:06pm
We are charged $80.00 per month, per household. I live alone, and some of these families have up to twenty people. I have an orchard, though. I figure I can save on food the money I'm overcharged for water. I got rid of the front and back lawns, though.
I have got to say I appreciate the value of water more now since we are no longer on a municipal water system and have our own shallow well. However, the one time it was very low made us really pay attention to our water usage. When we last used municipal water, we paid about $160 a quarter for water, sewage and garbage which was separate and apart from taxes. Water is definitely a valuable commodity and we are paying closer attention to it even though we are not officially "paying" for it now.
ToomuchStuff
9-27-14, 10:49am
You haven't mentioned anything about rate of replenish, or diminishing returns. Water will be cheap, if the supply keeps replenishing equal to or faster then the rate of consumption. The diminishing returns, deals with the lowest a bill would go.
Teacher Terry
9-27-14, 6:07pm
Water is not cheap in our state. When we had a small yard I was paying about $140/month to keep it alive. Now we have astroturf & my water bill is $25.
shadowmoss
9-28-14, 8:40am
From what I remember working in IT support for the metro water department one time, the people with irrigation systems have some formula where they don't pay sewer fees for some part of their water bill as well. So, the sewer savings part of the bill helps offset the increased water usage cost? I don't know how they would know if you did or didn't use the irrigation system, though. I'm thinking it was based on if it was installed, not actual use, and was a percentage of the water bill considered for certain summer months. As mentioned, it sounded like a black art.
My water district charges a flat fee of $13/month to have water, plus a tiered use fee dependent on the how much you use - price goes higher with each tier. We are billed every 2 months and my latest bill was $45 ($22.50/month approx.). I don't use much water so am in the lowest tier.
My water district charges a flat fee of $13/month to have water, plus a tiered use fee dependent on the how much you use - price goes higher with each tier. We are billed every 2 months and my latest bill was $45 ($22.50/month approx.). I don't use much water so am in the lowest tier.
Our village water district bill for a normal residential membership is ~$39/month. Of that, $36 or so covers the cost of the infrastructure and operations to make sure water comes out your tap if you turn it on, the other $3000 is the cost of the 5000 gallons per month you get before we start charging for additional consumption. Our average residential member uses about 2200 gallons/month, so there's a lot of slack.
Now mind you, a running toilet from something as simple as a stuck flapper can burn through a few thousand gallons a day...
Our village water district bill for a normal residential membership is ~$39/month. Of that, $36 or so covers the cost of the infrastructure and operations to make sure water comes out your tap if you turn it on, the other $3000 is the cost of the 5000 gallons per month you get before we start charging for additional consumption. Our average residential member uses about 2200 gallons/month, so there's a lot of slack.
Now mind you, a running toilet from something as simple as a stuck flapper can burn through a few thousand gallons a day...Well here in Southern Calif we are in the stealing business - we take that water from NorCal and from the Colorado River by force so don't have to charge much for it. But hey, our golf courses and swimming pools are "needs" not "wants" don't you know!
Our village water district bill for a normal residential membership is ~$39/month. Of that, $36 or so covers the cost of the infrastructure and operations to make sure water comes out your tap if you turn it on, the other $3000 is the cost of the 5000 gallons per month you get before we start charging for additional consumption. Our average residential member uses about 2200 gallons/month, so there's a lot of slack.
Now mind you, a running toilet from something as simple as a stuck flapper can burn through a few thousand gallons a day...
The question is whether or not the rate of use is renewable. And this differs significantly depending on the place one lives. Here in Tucson, my water bill ought to be so high I'd consider moving, and instead, water, sewer and garbage collection including an amazing single stream recycling program costs me about $60 per month. OTOH if you're on a coastline and especially if you've created a water sanitizing and distribution system that uses surface water, it's appropriate that your bills are almost purely for the infrastructure, not the resource itself, which is for all intents and purposes infinite.
All things considered water IS way too cheap. So is oil. So are commodity crops (see the aforementioned water and oil). Just about anything with the potential to generate profit on a global scale which can be mass produced by using up the finite resources that, in theory, belong to us all is way too cheap.
Huh, that's my smallest rant in weeks. Must be the nice weather.
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