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Water: Time for a Values Check?
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Let’s begin with a riddle. What’s delivered to your home every day, on demand, at consistently high quality — and costs less than a penny per gallon? The answer: water.
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Mark Farrell, P.E. |
Remarkably, it costs about 240 times less to have safe, clean drinking water delivered to your tap 24/7 than for a comparable 12-ounce can of soda. Seem rational? And just why is water so cheap?
The answer says a lot about how we value water – which, next to the air we breathe, is the most vital, life-sustaining commodity on earth. It also dictates how we manage our natural resources and explains why we continue to suffer the environmental consequences of our own misdeeds and lack of foresight in water supply planning.
Conventional wisdom is that the well is running dry – that is, that we have or will soon enough again face a critical water shortage. The truth is we’re not water short — we’re water foolish, and our follies are costing us plenty.
A good place to gain perspective on water supply development is by examining its true costs. The typical Florida household uses 8000 gallons of water per month, at a cost of about $20 to $30 per month in a combined water/wastewater bill. Compare that to other, arguably lesser commodities or services delivered to your home, from electricity to cable TV and internet service. The fact is, water is quite a bargain – too much of a bargain. And despite the protestations of an instant-messaging, TV-Tivo nation to which my own kids subscribe, we can live without cable for a week. We can’t live without water.
Historically, the mantra of water supply utilities and those who govern has been to produce and provide water at the “lowest cost possible.” However, many of the water supplies developed “inexpensively” in the past have actually exacted a princely sum in the form of environmental impacts. In the 1950s, when water bills were more nuisance than concern, the monthly household tab was less than $5. Today, the cost to develop traditional ground or surface water supplies ranges from 50 cents to $1.50 per 1000 gallons, and is still considered a bargain.
New alternative sources, ranging from reclaimed wastewater to desalinated seawater, can increase the cost to as much as $3.50 per 1000 gallons. They will be essential if Florida hopes to accommodate growth and safeguard the environment. While that’s double the cost of traditional water supply sources, it translates to an increase of just $12 per month for an average household using 8000 gallons of water per month.
What’s more, alternative sources such as reclaimed water, reservoir-stored water and desalinated water, are drought-proof – not dependent on rainfall or groundwater. Then consider that perpetual harvesting of groundwater and rivers is unsustainable and unreliable, and it’s easy to see why alternative sources are not just necessary pieces of the water supply puzzle, they’re a smart value to boot.
Once consumers and community leaders come to appreciate the value of water in comparison to lesser commodities and services, those values will go a long way in lessening our water management woes. New, environmentally sound and sustainable water supply sources must be developed in Florida, and while the investment in their development may increase water bills modestly, it’s a small price to pay for a sustainable, environmentally friendly water supply.
And if that modest increase buys Floridians additional dependability, quality and environmental protection, let’s hope for our sake and for the sake of our children, we see it for the bargain it is.
Mark Farrell, P.E,. is a principal and cofounder of Water Resource Associates of Tampa and former assistant executive director of the Southwest Florida Water ManagementDistrict.