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®PER,ATIN&MANAGEMENT <br /> Establishing water and <br /> sewer rates that charge <br /> I r <br /> for the full cost of <br /> services provided <br /> W'a <br /> '31 <br /> $1.97 per day in 2012,it ought to be self-evident <br /> t <br /> that the average American pays less for instant, <br /> w <br /> on-demand water and sewer service in a day than <br /> he or she does for a single cup of coffee from any <br /> popular coffee shop. <br /> 3r To say that water and sewer services are dirt- <br /> cheap would be an insult to dirt.A ton of water— <br /> about 250 gal(enough to fill an SUV's gas tank <br /> By Jason Mu_mm about 10 times)—costs approximately$1 to$2, <br /> and it is delivered to your faucet every time you <br /> ne of my favorite clauses in the English feel like turning the knob.A ton of dirt,on the <br /> language is"in the grand scheme of other hand,will run you about$20 without a <br /> lYi�I things..."Usually when hearing about delivery charge.Hooray for dirt! <br /> the grand scheme of things,you are about to be <br /> told just how irrelevant something is within the Utilities in the Red <br /> larger context of every g thing—from single thin —from In the grand scheme of things,utility rates <br /> the composition of insect hair to the gravita- have long been ignored.If anything,the rates <br /> " tional force of distant solar systems.Nothing charged for those basic water and sewer services <br /> in particular seems to matter in the have been nothing short of a nuisance for util- <br /> t' grand scheme of things. ity managers and their elected officials.Raising <br /> By this standard,water and rates is viewed by too many communities as a fis- <br /> 9¢ r3 sewer utilities have'not mea- cal failure and a sign of mismanagement.Elected <br /> ` sured very well histori- officials respond to community perception by <br /> cally.In the grand scheme resisting those increases. <br /> ` of things,the notion of That is a shame,because while rates may seem <br /> immediate access to clean irrelevant,in the grand scheme of things they <br /> drinking water and work- are an essential business requirement.A busi- <br /> o R ing sewer systems are ness requirement is not a goal or an objective,but <br /> things that,while once rather a necessity for ensuring that a business <br /> luxuries for Americans, model can succeed.The utility business model <br /> now are thought of as basic is not complex:it is to acquire assets and oper- <br /> Yr <br /> - services.When something ate them in order to provide drinking water and ' <br /> # y is labeled a basic service,that sewer service to customers in exchange for a fee. <br /> r. means it is expected to be pro- That is all:Acquire assets,operate them,pro- <br /> vided as a given.Put another vide service,get paid.Fail to do any one of these <br /> tvay,so-called basic services are things,and your business will fail. <br /> _ taken for granted. Most government-owned water and sewer <br /> ' Once things are taken for utilities have failed in the getting-paid category. <br /> granted,they quickly become The latest Community Water System Survey con <br /> small in the grand scheme of ducted by the U.S.Environmental Protection <br /> w 7 3 things.That brings us to another Agency collected data from the nation's water <br /> * truism:Things that are taken utilities in 2006(the results were published in <br /> .k V for granted also are expected to 2009).The report showed,among other things, <br /> be cheap, that government utilities,on average,were in the <br /> red on an operating basis."In the red"is a not-so- <br /> What We Pay technical accounting term that means the utili- <br /> _ '= As a nation,we do not ties were losing money—that it cost them more to <br /> pay very much for our water operate their systems than they received in pay- <br /> and sewer services.We have ments from customers'bills. <br /> ~~ not paid much historically, <br /> and we do not pay very much The `True Value of Water' <br /> now.Ten years ago,the average The low price of water and sewer service has <br /> water and sewer bill in the U.S. prompted many in our industry to champion a <br /> was about$450 per year,or about slogan(one that I personally dislike)called"the <br /> $1.23 a day.The average now is about true value of water"If only we could charge <br /> $720 a year,or$1.97 a day.Whether we are customers for the so-called true value of water, <br /> talking about$1.23 per day in Y2K dollars,or the argument goes,we could fix our ailing <br />