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Water limits, cutbacks need careful review, says editorial: Lot size, fairness ought to be limits’ factors

Posted by: Maven on March 11, 2009 at 10:44 am

From the North County Times, this editorial:

Water officials have been talking up the ongoing drought and urging us to “conserve” for so long that as surprising as it may seem, some Southern Californians actually have.

Now, however, officials are talking about rationing or setting water-use limits but ignoring the basic issue: Cut back from, or ration based on what? There is no obviously reasonable benchmark.

Telling residential households they will now have to use “20 percent less” than same-time-last-year sounds easy enough, sure. But it has problems. Chief among those is the fact that it is among the least fair options (if fairness matters, and it should).

Rationing may be in the cards, but again, based on what water usage as determined by what calibrator? Some suggest rationing water by price, but again, there is that fairness issue.

A reduction from past or ongoing water use penalizes those who have been good citizens, doing their part and instituting sound water habits. And it rewards water hogs for their past excesses (for example, who among us would be able to do just fine with “only” 80 percent of the federal government’s bailout of AIG?).

Read more of this editorial from the North County Times by clicking here.

March 11, 2009 · Filed Under Conservation

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