Fresno leaps into the 20th century
Finally, after decades of denial, Fresno is about to embark on a wondrous new technological era -- using water meters to figure out how much people should pay for their water. Here's our editorial on the subject.
Fresno's years behind the curve on this, and the price has been high. Using a flat rate for water fees means that water wasters have enjoyed a handsome subsidy from those who are careful about how much water they use. It's more than unfair -- it's a downright stupid way to do business in a semi-desert.
And now, with a severe waster crisis upon us in the Valley and the state, the flat rate system is utterly indefensible.
Fresnans can't take a lot of credit for finally seeing the light. If the state and the federal Bureau of Reclamation hadn't gotten tough with Fresno, we'd probably try to live without meters forever. But they did, and the city is gearing up for installation of the devices, under a mandate to begin reading them in 2010. About time.
Comments
It’s a shame that all too many people have to be forced to do the right thing.
But local government was more than imprudent to allow, even encourage over-
development of this semi-arid region. In the 1950s we were warned about the vulnerability of the region. Friends in Europe told me years ago about TV reports that regions in the US shall eventually have "WATER WARS."
"No use crying over spilled milk." And the
multitudes of (mostly) residential water users are here to stay, while agriculture, an undertaking that recycles water back into the aquiver, is disappearing from the area at a frightening pace.
But Fresno can not have its cake and eat it too. For instance, the requirement to
wash all containers to be recycled. We do it now, but we should not have to pay for cleaning the host of empty containers. Mostly, because we probably would not be able to afford it from our fixed retirement income.
So there is a little more involved than just sticking a water meter into every yard.
And what about all those lawns that slope toward the road? But not keeping them nice shall get the lawn police on your tail. And what about those idiotic water savers that have to be flushed more than once, thereby exceeding the gallonage of the older toilets.
"...government never of itself furthered any enterprise...the character inherent in the
American people has done all that had been accomplished, and would have done more,
if the government had not sometimes got in its way...." ("Civil Disobedience" Henry
David Thoreau)
Were it not for government, there would not be that over-development. But I am
back at the spilled milk.
Posted by: Isabell Lawson | June 30, 2008 6:31 PM