It's over the top hillarious that
some of that "bottled" water has actually come out of the local tap...
Add the waste issue from the discarded bottles and bottled water becomes a very real and serious
problem.
What's even worse is that people are willing to pay 10.000x more for bottled water (i.e. $10.000 per kiloliter in stead of $0.18) It's almost as if they consider tap water bad, because it's also used for toilets, showers and gardening.
Sometimes governments just need to have a bit of guts; this would be one of those times.
I think it's fair not to disconnect people under any circumstances, but beyond a reasonable minimum, people should just pay whatever it really costs.
I don't think slowly raising prices is going to do it though, because that will take ages and will cause people to protest for ages: it's probably better to switch to realistic prices in one go, deal with some angry folks and then get used to it.
For some long long time now, piped in tap water has been considered
as a "right" as opposed to what it actually is - a privilege. Did you
know you can't be disconnected for not paying your water bill? They
can only place a restrictor in your water line.
The
government has been quite fearful of price driven signals as a
mechanism to impact demand. As it stands today, you can buy a
kilolitre of fresh potable water, treated to world class standards out
of your pipe for ~18c. A kilolitre of treated sewage from, fresh from
the "plant" will cost you 75c. And there 'aint enough to quench the
thirst of market gardeners and other irrigators.... go figure...
Increased
water charges are in our future however, with gradual hikes over the
last few years creeping in - particularly in the area of "deemed" usage
for sewage and drainage, calculated from your metered usage. This
will certainly be taking a more aggressive form, with fresh water
prices doubling for many families through the next year or so.
If the Victorian government really cared about water consumption, why don't they just tax water at $0.10 a liter? That would make a navy shower cost $1.50 - $2.00, which would make it worth considering. They could provide the first 5 liters (per person, per day) tax free, so even really poor people have enough to drink, cook and personal hygiene.
The big question to me is: why don't they do that? Why do they play on our guilt feelings in stead of our wallets? I suspect the reason is that the government wants to be seen as a big strong father who protects it's children: very macho but very ineffective.
Post Comments - The end of the Hollywood shower?
Agree and agree.
It's over the top hillarious that some of that "bottled" water has actually come out of the local tap... Add the waste issue from the discarded bottles and bottled water becomes a very real and serious problem.
What's even worse is that people are willing to pay 10.000x more for bottled water (i.e. $10.000 per kiloliter in stead of $0.18) It's almost as if they consider tap water bad, because it's also used for toilets, showers and gardening.
Sometimes governments just need to have a bit of guts; this would be one of those times.
I think it's fair not to disconnect people under any circumstances, but beyond a reasonable minimum, people should just pay whatever it really costs.
I don't think slowly raising prices is going to do it though, because that will take ages and will cause people to protest for ages: it's probably better to switch to realistic prices in one go, deal with some angry folks and then get used to it.
For some long long time now, piped in tap water has been considered as a "right" as opposed to what it actually is - a privilege. Did you know you can't be disconnected for not paying your water bill? They can only place a restrictor in your water line.
The government has been quite fearful of price driven signals as a mechanism to impact demand. As it stands today, you can buy a kilolitre of fresh potable water, treated to world class standards out of your pipe for ~18c. A kilolitre of treated sewage from, fresh from the "plant" will cost you 75c. And there 'aint enough to quench the thirst of market gardeners and other irrigators.... go figure...
Increased water charges are in our future however, with gradual hikes over the last few years creeping in - particularly in the area of "deemed" usage for sewage and drainage, calculated from your metered usage. This will certainly be taking a more aggressive form, with fresh water prices doubling for many families through the next year or so.
Sam.
And $0.10 a liter is way more than the cost of desalination, even if you include carbon credits.
If the Victorian government really cared about water consumption, why don't they just tax water at $0.10 a liter? That would make a navy shower cost $1.50 - $2.00, which would make it worth considering. They could provide the first 5 liters (per person, per day) tax free, so even really poor people have enough to drink, cook and personal hygiene.
The big question to me is: why don't they do that? Why do they play on our guilt feelings in stead of our wallets? I suspect the reason is that the government wants to be seen as a big strong father who protects it's children: very macho but very ineffective.
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