RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space
Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
 |  Subject: OZschwitz: The Hidden Cost of Water Restrictions  Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:53 pm | |
| STATE governments have been told to let people decide for themselves how to cut back on water in a report that finds water restrictions cost every Australian household $150 a year.
A new research paper by the Productivity Commission, to be released today, is critical of governments prescribing what households can and cannot use water for during times when water is scarce.
"Such prescriptive rationing denies households the opportunity to choose how to use and conserve water in ways they value most," the commission found.
It said restricting use resulted in "hidden costs" of about $150 for each Sydney household.
They included structural damage to buildings, deterioration of lawns and gardens, the cost of new watering systems, time spent on labour-intensive methods of watering, and injuries sustained from carrying grey water in buckets.
The commission also included the rise of "water rage with neighbours checking the water use of others in ways they would not contemplate for other services such as phone use".
Households meanwhile face a rise in water bills of 27 per cent over the next four years, but Sydney Water will go back to the pricing regulator seeking a higher price rise.
In a draft decision released yesterday, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal backed a rise in the average household's water bill of $203 a year by 2012. Much of that rise will occur on July 1, when water prices jump 13 per cent, or $95 a year.
The tribunal said the rise is still $32 less than Sydney Water wanted.
Of the $203 rise, which is based on the average family using 200 kilolitres of water a year, $92 is to pay for the desalination plant being built at Kurnell, $61 to renew and upgrade existing facilities, $32 to improve Sydney Water's finances, and the remaining $18 to fund the western Sydney recycling scheme.
The Productivity Commission said that 80 per cent of urban households dealt with some form of water restrictions in 2005, and that the national cost would be at least $900 million.
It suggested that if water was priced according to its scarcity, people could be given more say in how they used it.
"In principle an urban water market could allow users to reveal their water security preferences," the commission said. "Some users, particularly businesses, may be willing to pay a premium for more secure water whereas others might prefer more frequent restrictions along with lower overall supply charges in most years. In essence, water users could have a role in managing their own risk of facing restrictions."
The commission disputed the assumption that price-based restrictions were unfair to people on lower incomes.
It said banning sprinklers meant children in richer households just swam in their own or friends' swimming pools or the ocean, while children from poorer households had to go to public pools or be more likely to have to travel further to go to the beach.
Poorer, larger households were less likely to be able to buy new water systems such as rainwater tanks and drip irrigation systems, it said, and may be worse off if they relied on their garden for fruit and vegetables.
The commission also raised the possibility of water trading between rural and urban areas and privatising some parts of the urban water market in order to introduce competition.
Sydney Water's managing director, Kerry Schott, said much of the price rise Sydney households faced was a once-only increase to pay for the desalination and water recycling plans. Future rises would largely be in line with rises in the cost of living.
"The days of dams and cheap water are gone, partly thanks to climate change and partly thanks to population growth - and all sources of water now, whether it is recycled or desal, are more expensive," she said.
The draft price rise recommended by the tribunal was "about 5 per cent less than we sought," Ms Schott said.
Under the pricing structure put forward by tribunal, smaller water users would subsidise larger users, since the consumption-related portion of the water bill is to rise by less than the fixed charge component.
"This unfairly discriminates against lower-consumption households, typically those on lower incomes," said Mark Byrne, of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
The chairman of the pricing tribunal, Michael Keating, said although the proposed steep price rise was a "concern", the price of water, at $1.83 per thousand litres, compares favourably when people willingly pay $2 a litre for bottled water. "The price of water [at Woolworths] is 1000 times as much. I think this is good value. I don't think this will break the family budget," he said, while admitting that $200 is a "steep impact".
Sydney Water will increase assistance programs to those who cannot afford the higher prices. More money would go into a program helping families buy more water-efficient appliances.
Ms Schott said the transfer of water from the Shoalhaven to Warragamba Dam could not continue. "The rivers are in a shocking state. It is just absolutely not sustainable," she said.
Householders - who already face big rises in mortgage interest rates - also face rises in the cost of other utilities. Gas prices rise 5.2 per cent on April 1, while electricity prices rise 7.5 per cent or more from July 1.
Link
_________________
Anarcho Capitalists Retail , OZschwitz Downunder BoutiqueAnarcho-Capitalists,AnCaps Forum,Anti-State,Anti-Statist,Inalienable Rights Defenders,Non-Aggression Principle,Non-Initiation of Force Principle,Rothbardians,Anarchist,Capitalist,objectivism,Ayn Rand,Anarcho-Capitalism,Anarcho-Capitalist,politics,libertarianism,Ancap Forum,Anarchist Forum,Vulgar Libertarians,Hippies of The Right,Forum for Anarcho-Capitalist,Forum for Anarcho-Capitalists,Forum for AnCap,Forum for AnCaps,Libertarian,Anarcho-Objectivist,Freedom, Laissez Faire, Free Trade, Black Market, Randroid, Randroids, Rothbardian, AynArchist, Anarcho-Capitalist Forum, Anarchism, Anarchy, Free Market Anarchism, Free Market Anarchy, Market Anarchy
 |
|
