Water Ways: A Conservation Plan

As I was prepping my family's dinner dishes for the dishwasher, it struck me that we — a collective "we" — are paying for what is, in essence one of the main necessities for our survival as a species. If we were really truly a land of the free, shouldn't free access to water in one's home be part of those basic liberties? So this got me pondering the idea of how to provide said free water even though the liquid itself is becoming something of an endangered species. As I ruminated, I came up with a general concept that I think might work.

This plan is based on a couple of presuppositions:
1. The average person uses roughly 80-100 gallons of water per day, or about 3,000 gallons/month, so a family of four (two adults, two tweens), consumes about 12,000 gallons/month.
2. This plan is based on the city level as that's on the level that I pay my water bill.

Here's the plan:
(a) The free part: Each household gets a free allotment of water use based on a formula of expected water usage for that household (based on number of people in the homes, ages, requirements, etc...). However, the formula will err toward the lower number, so people will get their daily requirement, but they'll have to start thinking about how their going to use it, and will shift their usage accordingly: shorter wash cycles, shorter showers, more efficient toilets, and so on. This formula is based on basic needs, so things like pools, hot tubs, spas, are not included.

(b) A tiered payment system: So let's say based on the above formula, my family (two adults, two young children) is alloted 240 gallons/day, or 7,200 gallons/month, and we've adjusted accordingly. But it's summer, and we want to fill our 400 gallon kiddie pool. Now is when paying for the water comes into play. We can either prepay for that month - like a prepaid credit card - based on our expected needs, or be billed according to how many gallons over we are. Or we really like our green lawn and don't mind paying the extra 200 gallons/month usage to keep it lush.

To incorporate all of these various ab0ve-and-beyond usage requirements, a payment plan would be devised based on a tiered system. For example, if you are over your requirements by say 5-200 gallons for one month, you pay a low per-gallon fee (which would actually be higher than our current rates). If you use between 201 and say 500 gallons (and these numbers are fabricated), you'd pay a slightly higher fee, and so on. At this stage, because rates would be higher than what we're paying now, the water company/companies would still be generating income. Let's face it, a typical family at some point is going to go over the limit. As a consumer, this will help me because if I know I will be using more water than usual (in the pool scenario), I can start budgeting ahead of time, or I can take advantage of a water credit system.

(c) Water credit system: Working on the same premise as the pay-as-you-go model, the credit system would reward you for going under your alloted use. So let's say that I manage to lower my water usage down to 2,000 gallons/month.

With those extra 400 gallons, I can either store them up for future usage (the pool in the summer), or I can return those unused credits back to the grid and receive a credit in the form of a refund or some other non-monetary reward system. Maybe there can even be a donation system where we can donate our unused water credits toward a local charity or something and get a credit/reward as well.

Obviously, for businesses, there would have to be a different model in place, but you could also provide a similar provision and formula for a business, rewarding them for creating a water-efficent working environment.

This system would work in several ways:
(a) As consumers, we would figure out how to make the most of our free alloted water and take steps to make those gallons last longer: more efficient toilets and showerheads, less frequent lawn watering (or re-planting our lawns with more drought-tolerant flora), washing clothes less frequently, and so on.
(b) Because there would be times when the average household would need to increase their water usage, income would be generated. Because these fees would be higher than they would otherwise be in our current situation, water companies would be recouping costs.
(c) Because water demand would drop, the amount of energy and resources needed by the water company to deploy this water would drop as well, lowering their costs in supplying the water.
(d) Cities benefit because the standard of living would improve, making the city more attractive for more people to come in, buy homes, and pay property taxes on those homes.

That's my plan. Phew, after all that, I need a drink. Of water, that is.

What do you think? Let me know your opinion or idea on how we can save water. Send us a note to editor@bakidsmagazine.com.