Cost of Water

My last entry was about the amount of water we consume. The water tax bill that spurred that particular entry had another interesting piece of information which I feel a need to talk about. I found out that the town of Beaconsfield charges its residents $1 per 1000 litres of water consumption. I don't know about you but I find this absurd.

In comparison I pay about $1 a litre for gasoline. I pay about $2.20 a litre for organic milk. Bottled water sets me back about $2.00 (and that is for a 500 ml bottle). Compare all of that to one tenth of a penny per litre ($0.001). I also doubt that it costs the city only $1 to deliver 1000 litres to me.

Clearly the incentive for people in Beaconsfield to consume less water is not going to come from a financial impact. The town will have to rely on some enlightened and aware citizens that look at their consumption in thousands of litres and, like me, decide that they want to try and make a dent. If Beaconsfield does indeed want to make a dent in water consumption they need to up the price per litre so that those extra litres are directly felt in the pocket books or its residents......but of course, drop whatever amount buried in our municipal taxes is associated with water distribution. I am a big fan of user pay so long as the associated existing taxes are eliminated.

So, readers, just think about the litres of water that go down the drain when you brush your teeth, wash your hands, water your lawns, flush the toilet, take a shower, do your laundry and your dishes. It does not cause too much hardship to turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or to take shorter showers. Water your lawns once a week or not at all. No money spent. If you do want to spend a bit of money....try $150 on a new toilet 6 litre per flush toilet. In two years it will be more than paid for (for a family of four who pees and poohs average amounts!).

Water scarcity is already being discussed as the next big environmental challenge.

Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!