It appears that the prevailing mentality on the water meter issue is: no water meters equals NO water conservation. Why are we stuck here? Stuck here for years! We must get our heads out of this “box” of thinking before we can move forward constructively.
Personally I have been conserving water for years. I save my laundry water to pour out on the lawn and flower beds (best weight bearing exercise), I save my bath water for toilet flushing. Do I wish my plumbing was designed to reuse grey water and not waste it—you bet I do! Much employment potential here—more intelligent way to direct resources.
My respect for water use came about through awareness/education and not a threat (higher water bill). I DEPLORE that our previous city council made no effort in this direction but rushed to saddle an uninformed public with an unnecessary, unwanted, and [potential] carcinogenic (as declared by WHO) appliance.
Who are the main beneficiaries of water meters? Is it not the corporate machine controlling our capitalist society—the manufacturing, mining, wholesaling, etc industries? What a bonanza for them getting millions of units of water meters sold to a mostly compliant, gullible public.
Just get the municipal leaders on board… meters needed to conserve water… easy… it’s politically correct to conserve water… meters will do it.
Will they? Or will those who have the income continue to misuse the water?
What happened to the conservation principle of reduce, reuse? Just how are we reducing by mandating that millions and millions of households (worldwide) must have one of these gadgets in their home. Is this not part of this “conspicuous consumption” that Pope Frances speaks about in his recent encyclical on climate change?
And what an irony: instead of impressing on the new generation of water users the preciousness of water, what do we do? We show them how to use it frivolously/unconsciously—we give them a spray park.
We need you, the people we elected, to do some deeper thinking and not simply go with the status quo or the corporate biased advice of Urban Systems.
Let’s stop this shallow approach and see water meters for what they are: a wasteful corporate grab, a total misuse of many resources. Let’s focus on the real issue—water conservation.
Eva Anthony, Grand Forks
