Re: The value of water
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: The value of water
- From: C* D* <c*@fix.net>
- Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 22:42:32 -0800
>Glenn Breayley wrote:
>
>>>If water and fertilizer are
>>>precious, let's tax them directly and let people make their
>>>own decisions about how to spend their money.
>>>
>>South Africa works on an incremental scale for water consumption. Water
>>bills are monthly with the first few kilolitres at a nominal rate then
>there
>>is a price hike for the next amount used & then a 3rd step for real excess
>>consumption. Profligate watering, such as a lawn requires, gets really
>>expensive, so it helps focus the mind on the situation nicely.
>
and Tim Dutton wrote:
>Probably the very best way to value water is to not be on a town supply, so
>that the only water that you can use is what you supply yourself. This way
>you know exactly what it actually costs to supply the water. And when you
>live in an area like I do that does not have a potable underground supply,
>it is not possible to sink a well or bore. Just to make things really hard,
>there are no nearby natural springs, so all the streams dry up in the
>driest weather. The only water supply we have comes directly from the rain,
>onto our roof and then into storage tanks. When the tank runs dry, the only
>way out is to get the water trucked in.
>
>Our neighbours ran out of water at Christmas. They had to pay NZ$150 for
>9000 litres to be trucked in (2000 Imperial gallons, around 2250 US gallons
>I think). That is around US$80. The average family is said to use around
>1000 litres per day. Obviously someone who waters their lawn all day long
>with a sprinkler uses a lot more. Our family uses 200 litres a day under
>normal conditions. Low water usage for us is a way of life. At that rate
>our total water supply can last us just over 10 weeks without any rain. The
>longest we have ever had without rain is 5 weeks, so we've always been OK.
>I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather patterns won't change too
>much in years to come!
>
>Note that the house supply never gets used for watering the garden. For
>that purpose I have other small tanks dotted about the property collecting
>rainfall from various shed roofs. All watering is done with a watering can.
>To make life easier, we try to only plant things that can survive on
>natural rainfall. If something dies, it was either the wrong plant or it
>was in the wrong place.
+++++--------------
Do you have the concept of gray water (that's not meant to be insulting, I
just don't know how widespread the term is!). Water from your kitchen sink,
shower and bath could probably be put on your plants. You shold re-use all
non-sewer type water! ---Chas---
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