City resists push for water meters

Sacramento Bee ^ | April 9, 2003 | Stuart Leavenworth

[farmfriend]

In its bid to block a statewide mandate on water meters, Sacramento could be compared to the Dutch boy who stuck his finger in the dike.

Environmentalists, Southern California interests and the Association of California Water Agencies have all lined up to support legislation requiring water meters on all residences statewide.

[general_re]

I suspect that the reason I'm paying ~$12 a month for water is that the county and state subsidize it pretty heavily - I'm sure if you figured up how much that was costing me, it would be pretty comparable to the rest of the country - I'm paying for it one way or another ;)

[farmfriend]

just dynamite the d*mn river and skim 'em off with a net, and the heck with the ESA.

You can only do that if you are the government. They poisoned one lake in order to get rid of the Northern Pike that some idiot put in there. Didn't work and eliminated the towns water supply to boot.

[general_re]

Yeah, but it is raw water - for irrigation purposes only.

I suspected as much, but still, that's a whopping $0.00006 per gallon. I wonder how much it would cost to clean it and filter it yourself... ;)

[general_re]

You can only do that if you are the government.

In which case, the problem is that you have too many people voting for salmon and not enough voting for water.

Eventually your neighbors will figure it out, I guess. Hopefully that'll happen before you all are paying $200 a month for drinking water, but when it gets painful enough, people will start wondering exactly how much the stupid salmon is really worth to them. Personally, I'd say "zero", but that's just me...

[farmfriend]

In which case, the problem is that you have too many people voting for salmon and not enough voting for water.

You got that right.

Eventually your neighbors will figure it out, I guess.

We are talking San Fransisco left here, not a chance. They are the ones talking about tearing down the dam that provides their water in favor of habitat/view shed reconstruction. They will never vote for water, only bonds measures proporting to be for clean water but are actually landgrabs. Pray for us.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Salmon is worth quite a bit to me, filleted and served as sashimi atop some swiss chard and japanese cabbage, with some nice wasabi and soy. It should always be accompanied by something good, like white tuna, maybe some octopus and some fatty tuna.....

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

You can put down a well yourself (and a reverse-osmosis system for your house.) The entire setup - drilling, well, storage tank and etc. - will cost less than 20 grand.  To get a water meter installed costs between $8,000 and $10,000 down where I am (Chandler and Gilbert really stick it to county folks). Plus you have to sign an agreement with Chandler that you won't fight annexation. It is not unusual for a group of 4 to 6 households to share the cost of a well.

Then all you have to do is supply the electricity to pump the water. If you pump at night here, the cost is just slightly greater than if you were to buy raw irrigation water yourself. Of course, you are only allowed to have up to a 3/4 hp well pump (any more, and you are charged as a commercial entity).

The water level is generally at 80 feet here in the valley (or less). The people in the know, however, tend to put their pumps at around 300 - 400 feet. This is because when the water district turns on their pumps, it tends to reduce the water level rather drastically if you are within a half mile of one of these monsters.

[general_re]

I don't know quite what to tell you, other than that you always have the ultimate recourse - vote with your feet. We'd love to have more people like you in our country. You know, America ;)

[general_re]

It is not unusual for a group of 4 to 6 households to share the cost of a well.

I can see why - it would pay for itself in a couple of years.

[general_re]

I'm partial to smoking it myself. Cold-smoked lox, a little cream cheese...mmmmmm.

This isn't going to turn into another Greek food thread, is it? ;)

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Considering the cost of metering, it turns out that it pays for itself immediately. For 4 families to get their own individual meters, the cost is somewhere between $32,000 and $40,000. However, the cost of putting down a single well shared by 4 families is less than $20,000. And a whole lot cheaper to operate too...

[farmfriend]

We'd love to have more people like you in our country.

I already have the best NY can offer. I don't think I could get him to go back for anything.

[ArrogantBustard]

You know, here in the rest of the country, we have a term for unwanted non-native species - "pests". And they get "eliminated".

I wish. I've two words for you:

Kudzu

Nutria

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Nah - its my birthday, my wife and kids are out of town for Spring Break, and I'm settling for lame old Outback tonight - and getting in the mood for a slab of meat (I suppose I could go for Ruth's Chris, Morton's, or this really fabulous local steakhouse, but Outback is pretty damn easy, and I love those onions).

[general_re]

Eh, I didn't mean New York - moving from California to New York is a lot like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Nah, I'm outta here myself in a few short months. ;)

[general_re]

With those two, it's not for lack of trying. Last I knew, Louisiana was offering a bounty of $4 per nutria, and kudzu...well, I imagine salmon are probably a bit easier to eliminate ;)

[general_re]

...I love those onions

What the hell - nobody lives forever, right? ;)

[ArrogantBustard]

Quite right. It's not for lack of effort. They're just so blasted prolific. I suppose I should add "fire ants" to the list, too. I understand that the Great Lakes States have had some success eliminating the dreaded Zebra Mussels, though. A good thing, if correct.

[general_re]

I understand that the Great Lakes States have had some success eliminating the dreaded Zebra Mussels, though.

Speaking to you from the shores of Lake Erie, I can say...sort of. There's no effective chemical treatment, but it turns out that they can't stand heat of more than about 110°F, so some places, like the local power plants, have had limited success pumping hot water through their intake pipes to clear mussel blockages. The problem for them is that those intake pipes are supposed to be drawing cold water in for their cooling systems, so it's some really elaborate procedure they have to go through in order to clean them out.

Of course, like everything, there are some surprising unintended consequences - it turns out that zebra mussels are extremely efficient filter feeders, such that one single mussel can filter a quart of water in a day. Multiply that by millions of mussels, and the funny thing is, the lakes with the worst infestations have the cleanest water they've seen in forty years. Go figure. ;)