Venting the Anger: Raising Water Rates

Here in CA we have been told for years, "we are in a drought, we must conserve water." Well after a couple years of record rain falls, Jerry Brown declared the drought over. All the people rejoiced because there is a surplus of water, so rates should drop a little or at least stay the same right? Well not if you live in Santa Clara. They want to raise the water rates by almost 10% over the next five years Why? Well, it seems that all of that conservation has cut back on the amount of revenue the water district makes.

Darin Taylor, senior project manager at the water district, said the district needs to raise rates next year because water usage has declined. Water usage hit a 15-year low in 2010 because of the economic recession and a wet year, he said.

Well isn't that great. So the people did what they were supposed to do, not use water, and they are rewarded by getting a rate increase.

Yet another reason why people are fed up with government agencies.

The Last Laugh: Water Rationing = Broken Water-Mains

Since last summer or so in Los Angeles, there have been an increase of water-mains bursting around town. They caused unknown thousands if not millions of dollars in damage. Not only was their flood damage, but also sink holes like this one to the right.

Well it turns out the cause for all of the bursting pipes was...water rationing. Yes, all the water people were saving caused the old pipes to just burst under the pressure. An independent investigation concluded;

An independent report by a team of civil engineers says water rationing is to blame for the water main breaks across Los Angeles last summer because changing water pressure stressed old and corroded cast-iron pipes.

Ironic I would say.