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Adjub-RSmWrCrv
Roosevel Insiuion Cener on Environmenal and Energy Policy, UNC a Chapel Hill
An adjustable-rate system or residential water consumption would pro-vide a air, predictable and fexible way o encouraging people to reducetheir water usage, while helping to prevent critically low water levels,lessening the impacts o uture droughts.
Unlike he indusrial and agriculural secors, where waer usage is conrolled byregulaions and nancial incenives, residenial waer use is unregulaed, provid-ing no srong economic incenive or conservaion. Thereore, his policy speci-cally arges his secor by creaing an economic incenive or people o use lesswaer in heir homes, in addiion o sugges-ing convenien and easible ways or reduc-ing waer consumpion.An adjusable-rae waer usage sysemwould esablish ees or waer use based ondeviaion rom a predeermined amoun oconsumpion. The baseline waer allomenor use in each home and he ees associaedwih i could be deermined by sae and lo-cal uiliy governing bodies. To be equiable,he baseline would have o be adjused orefec he number o people in a paricular home. Households ha consumedmore han heir baseline amoun would be charged waer ees ha progressivelyincreased in proporion o he amoun o excess waer consumed. Likewise,hose households which used less han he baseline amoun would receive pro-gressively greaer reducions in heir raes, proporionae o he amoun o waerhey ‘saved.’ The reducions in raes would uncion as ‘rewards,’ and would beunded hrough he redisribuion o he ‘penaly’ ees ha were colleced. Inhis way, a given waer company would no be accused o proeering o oees, and he company would no suer nancially as people reduced heir wa-er consumpion. The various uiliygoverning bodies could deerminehe amouns o hese rewards andees. The governing paries couldalso ake ino accoun acors likeneed, household size, ax bracke,and he local waer supply.
History
Las November, 37% o he coninen-al Unied Saes was in moderae or
Key Facts
A signican porion o he
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coninenal U.S. was recenly ina drough.Residenial waer use (and
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wase) is unregulaed.An adjusable-rae waer usage
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sysem would encourage sav-ing waer by charging heavierusers more money.
Talking Points
An adjusable-rae sysem reduces he
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impac o drough.Such sysems save waer by creaing
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a pro-based conservaion moive orresidenial users.While simpler han specic regulaions
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agains waer usage, adjusable-raewaer usage sysems would require away or people o monior heir usage.
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