Editor:
It was with a great deal of dismay that when I read the article “How much water do we need?”(Coast Reporter, July 25), I noted that while “volumetric billing” (user pay) was mentioned twice, there appears to be no firm decision to actual implement this using the water meters that have been installed, some more than five years ago, other than a vague statement about implementing something by 2028 at the earliest. This is not good enough.
In my opinion, there is no difference between electricity, natural gas and water in terms of a commodity for household consumption, yet only the first two are currently billed on the basis of usage. Paying a fixed annual fee for water simply encourages waste with no effort at conservation.
Given the amount of annual rainfall, there should never be the need for any water restrictions and the annual imposition of the possible four stages of water restriction is simply an indication of the failure of the SCRD to a) increase the water supply and b) decrease the consumption of water by whatever means possible, including “user pay.”
The goal of 750 litres per residential connection per day is laughable as there is no mention of just how this will be achieved. Any household should be able to achieve a consumption of far less than that by a) reusing grey water from the wash basin, the kitchen sink etc and b) by careful watering of plants etc. This target will continue to encourage waste and there appears to be no plan to achieve even that other than an unrealistic communications strategy. We deserve better.
Buzz Bennett, Gibsons
