Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff

[SR71]

Yeah, this is strange. They article talks about 40% price increases in 5 years. I've had a 20% increase in that time, so I guess it's not out of the realm...

[Angakuk]

Once again I am glad that I have my own well. What's a little coliform bacteria between friends?

[Janet]

I bought my house in 2005. At that time, my average monthly water bill was $32, some months it would go up to $37 and on rare occasions down to $27. Now my average bill is $83.56, sometimes down to $70.47 and very rarely up over $90. I take it as one of the poor taxes I pay for choosing to live in the city instead of the suburbs.

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by Angakuk

Once again I am glad that I have my own well. What's a little coliform bacteria between friends?

De Shitz!

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Angakuk

Once again I am glad that I have my own well.

What do you think will stop them from taking this water away from you? Just like fights over mineral rights underneath private land, all it needs is a law that freehold property rights extend 10ft down and no more.

They'll still let you draw the water. But they'll charge you for it. And to keep the bureaucracy simple, they'll charge you the full commercial rate for the maximum amount of water you could pump from it at full throttle 24 hours a day.

After all, if you don't, you're depriving other citizens of water. Not to mention depriving corporate citizens of legitimate profits.

[SR71]

I need to quote that and start flinging it around the internet, pretending it's about real companies. I don't think people have the proper fear of American Water,

[SR71]

Charleston Gazette-Mail | W.Va. American Water wants 28 percent rate increase

West Virginia American Water Company is asking for a 28 percent rate increase from the state Public Service Commission.

If the PSC approved the rate hike, average residential customers — who use 3,256 gallons of water each month — would see their monthly water bills increase by $11.63. Their total monthly costs would rise from $41.27 to $52.90.

- See more at: Charleston Gazette-Mail | W.Va. American Water wants 28 percent rate increase

That would bite. 28% at one whack.

[SR71]

Originally Posted by Janet

I bought my house in 2005. At that time, my average monthly water bill was $32, some months it would go up to $37 and on rare occasions down to $27. Now my average bill is $83.56, sometimes down to $70.47 and very rarely up over $90. I take it as one of the poor taxes I pay for choosing to live in the city instead of the suburbs.

Wow. That pretty much confirms that part of the article. You would think being right on the lake like that, water would be a fairly cheap and easy trick. Guess not.

[Angakuk]

Originally Posted by JoeP

What do you think will stop them from taking this water away from you? Just like fights over mineral rights underneath private land, all it needs is a law that freehold property rights extend 10ft down and no more.

They'll still let you draw the water. But they'll charge you for it. And to keep the bureaucracy simple, they'll charge you the full commercial rate for the maximum amount of water you could pump from it at full throttle 24 hours a day.

After all, if you don't, you're depriving other citizens of water. Not to mention depriving corporate citizens of legitimate profits.

Don't be giving anyone any ideas. Anyway, except during severe drought conditions the water in my well is usually within ten feet of the surface.

They can take my water when they pry the pump handle out of my cold dead hands!

[Dingfod]

I'm thinking with not much more than a long straw, Daniel Day Lewis could be drinking your milkshake.

[Angakuk]

Does he suck that much?

[Dingfod]

I believed him when he said something similar in There Will Be Blood.

[Janet]

Here's a pretty good article on the water situation where I live. I feel I should point out that I have been lucky. I have never had a boil water advisory for my address, although one ended just before my block, kitty-corner. I also have never noticed any discoloration or smell with my water. The library had a couple boil water advisories so we switched to bottled water. Although some people still drink out of the fountains.

[SR71]

Originally Posted by Janet

Here's a pretty good article on the water situation where I live. I feel I should point out that I have been lucky. I have never had a boil water advisory for my address, although one ended just before my block, kitty-corner. I also have never noticed any discoloration or smell with my water. The library had a couple boil water advisories so we switched to bottled water. Although some people still drink out of the fountains.

City meetings have devolved into a mob of angry residents yelling at the emergency manager.

This is the thing. In places where the maintenance and expansion of service have fallen by the wayside, I think it will be better in most cases for citizens to shoulder the burden through local tax than to farm the problem out to scoundrels like American Water. Either way, it's going to cost, or people will have to do with what they already have. I just feel that privatization of water service is just opening the door for another way to get gouged.

[Dingfod]

Water here isn't a problem anymore, thanks to bountiful rain in the last three or four months.

[Janet]

That was no exaggeration. One of those public meetings was held a the library and a man yelled at the mayor that he was going to go to his house and beat him if he didn't fix the water. Although that threat might have been at the previous meeting, he did come to ours as well. The fun never ends around here.

[SR71]

Hah! Emergency managers! Lolbert's dream come true.

Formed by emergency manager Jerry Ambrose and Mayor Dayne Walling, the committee met for the first time earlier this month in a session that turned into a shouting match between some community members and city leaders over Flint's water problems.

[godfry n. glad]

An amusing and related diversion...

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

Water here isn't a problem anymore, thanks to bountiful rain in the last three or four months.

Worry not...either the problem will return, or a new one will develop.

[godfry n. glad]

Looky who has been seen making the rounds, marking territory:

Nestle in Cascade Locks, with state owned water rights....

Cascade Locks is about 35 miles due east of Puddle City and smack in the middle of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area.

I suggest that, instead, Nestle be allowed to pump fresh water directly from the Columbia River, just north of the city limits of Richland, Washington. Or, alternatively, pump ground water from that same immediate vicinity. That's the ticket!

[Janet]

I might be getting a bit of relief on my water bill, but probably only temporarily and until the appeals shake out.

[Angakuk]

I see where scientist have discovered flowing water on mars. Surely it is only a matter of time before that water is held hostage my some evil private water company.

[Dingfod]

It's salt water, we have plenty of that here.

[Janet]

Oh, hey, the water thread.

So, yeah, you probably haven't heard that a local hospital announced last week that children in Flint have dangerous levels of lead in their blood. This was after an out-of-state University announced they had found elevated levels of lead in the water and criticized the state's testing methods. So everyone is scrambling like mad and several are calling for people's heads.

Today the city is giving out 4000 thousand filters to needy families. The governor's plan reportedly includes giving lead filters to every resident. I didn't wait. I ordered one online last Saturday and it's supposed to arrive today. The governor still insists he won't take the city off Flint River water and back onto Detroit water. But he's the one who has been insisting it was safe all along, so he obviously doesn't give a shit.

Today, as I watched a water truck arrive at my doctor's office, I started to wonder who in the governor's administration, or the Emergency Manager's life, owned stock in bottled water. I guess the lead is making me cynical.

[slimshady2357]