Water Does Not Necessarily Cost More in Areas Where It Is Scarce. Seattle Tops the List of Ten Cities with the Costliest Water.
According to information from the Waterless Co.,how much we pay for water in the U.S. can vary significantly on depending on where we live. Further, there is not necessarily a correlation between water costs and where “water rich” and “water poor” cities are located.
For instance, based on using 7,500 gal of water per month, a family in Seattle, Wash., has the highest water rates in the country at $56.18. However, the city has experienced relatively adequate, normal rainfall over the past five years.
Conversely, residents of San Antonio, Texas, pay less than half this amount, $22.80, for the same allocation of water. Yet over the past five years, San Antonio has experienced drought conditions 80% of the time.
Based on using 7,500 gal of water per month, the study indicates these are the 10 U.S. cities with the costliest water:
1. Seattle, Wash. ($56.18)
2. Boston ($41.18)
3. Philadelphia ($39.30)
4. Phoenix ($38.55)
5. Los Angeles ($37.50)
6. Minneapolis ($34.58)
7. New York City ($31.80)
8. Houston ($31.40)
9. Denver ($24.08)
10. Detroit ($22.95)
According to a spokesman for the Waterless Company, “Costs can be higher (in some cities) because some are addressing water infrastructure issues. In other cases, water rates have simply been kept artificially low for decades.”
Over the past 10 years the cost of water has been increasing about 5.5% per year, and rates are sure to go up perhaps to double the current rates in the next few years.
Should you be happy if your city charges less for water than the cities on the list? Probably not, because this in all likelihood means that the rate is being kept artificially low by failure to maintain infrastructure. Americans are accustomed to paying less for water than it really costs. This works for a time, but the piper must eventually be paid. Payment is likely to take the form of water shortages and poor water quality.
See “Water Should Cost More: An Unpopular View” on this website.
