(April 22, 2009, The Portland Tribune)
“We have very good water,” Jon Hanken the city manager said. “But it isn’t cheap.”
Other charges on city water bills include a $15.70 meter charge plus 33 cents per every 100,000 gallons of water that is used or .0033 per gallon.
These charges pay for the management and maintenance of the [...]
(April 15, 2009, Paul Kedrosky, Infectious Greed)
Major water price increases and supply cuts are underway in southern California, both of which are long overdue. This part of the state is a desert, and yet too many people live there, and too many of them live their water consumption lives like they are somewhere with higher [...]
(March 22, 2009, The Mercury News)
As California’s drought continues, water rationing is becoming a reality in many cities — and Antioch is no exception.
On Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to weigh in on a water shortage contingency plan to cut consumption by an estimated 25 percent — the amount by which Antioch’s water [...]
(March 20, 2009, Michael Pollak, The New York Times)
Q. Eight ounces of Poland Spring (plus a nice plastic bottle) costs about a dollar. How much does the same amount straight from the tap cost? I mean, how much does it really cost?
A. One two-thousandth as much, according to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Both the [...]
David Zetland is Right: Water Rates have to Rise, and Globally Too (LeakBird)I think that David Zetland is onto the zeitgeist, only it hasn’t happened yet. What do I mean, or what is Mr. Zetland saying essentially?
Price water according to its scarcity, and water shortages will become a thing of the past.
This is the axe we hear Mr. Zetland grinding again and again, and it appears that [...]
(March 10, 2009, Reuters)
It’s hard to visualize a water crisis while driving the lush boulevards of Los Angeles, golfing Arizona’s green fairways or watching dancing Las Vegas fountains leap more than 20 stories high.
So look Down Under. A decade into its worst drought in a hundred years Australia is a lesson of what the American [...]
(March 10, 2009, China Daily)
The authorities need to push ahead with a price hike, reflecting accurately the growing shortage of water in China and help plug further depletion of the resource, an official has said.
“We must set up a rational water pricing system adapted to the country’s severe shortage of water. So some cities will [...]
(March 7, 2009, The Mercury News)
Foster City residents who take their time in the shower or run the washing machine with just a few shirts inside will soon pay for their wasteful ways.
At a meeting Monday night, the Foster City City Council will consider approving a water rate structure that escalates the cost of water [...]
(March 5, 2009, Aguanomics)
…Says Harvard Professor Stavins at the Huffington Post. His op/ed continues:
Throughout the United States, water is under-priced. Efficient use of water will take place only when the price reflects the actual additional cost of making that water available. Lest one fear that higher water rates would mean that Americans would go thirsty, [...]
(March 4, 2009, David Zetland, Aguanomics)
RT writes:
I am an economist from Australia who works on among other issues urban water policy.
I read with interest your nicely-written Forbes article.
We seem to have pretty much a similar situation here in Australia and a few of us make similar suggestions.
I’d love to understand more about the your situation [...]
(Feb. 28, 2009, Aguanomics)
Aquadoc’s review of Blue Gold attracted an interesting comment:
—————-
Mike, I am compelled to answer your hypothetical question of Maude Barlow: “why is privatization of our water so bad?”
While designing and constructing water delivery sources by experts make sense, the delivery of water is not a highly specialized technology and therefore is quite [...]
(Feb. 26, 2009, The Mercury News)
In March, after a series of cold winter storms, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada was above normal. That seemed to be good news for California’s water supply, which relies heavily on Sierra Nevada snow.
But after a record heat wave in the early spring, it was as if the winter’s [...]
(Feb. 26, 2009, Bloomberg News)
On a cloudless December day in the Nevada desert, workers in white hard hats descend into a 30- foot-wide shaft next to Lake Mead.
As they’ve been doing since June, they’ll blast and dig straight down into the limestone surrounding the reservoir that supplies 90 percent of Las Vegas’s water. In September, [...]
(Feb. 25, 2009, CleanTech)
Leaders at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco today said the days of cheap water are over.
The developing world is still struggling to provide usable water to its residents, while water shortages in the developed world have put a new focus on expensive technologies.
“Water has never been priced properly, but [...]
(Feb. 8, 2009, ChicoER)
California is experiencing “the most significant water crisis in history,” according to the state Department of Water Resources.In the Central Valley, farmers are choosing to plant fewer crops this year. Some orchardists are making tough decisions about whether to allow their trees to go without water.
Residents in areas such as the Bay [...]
(Jan. 30, 2009, The Orlando Sentinel)
Armed with a judge’s OK, Seminole County says it will soon begin pumping millions of gallons of water per day from the St. Johns River. It’s a smart move from the County Commission’s perspective, as it will provide an abundant source of “cheap” water for future growth while generating revenue [...]
