[Vision2020] Water: willing to conserve but can't afford to

[Art Deco]

Nils asks:

"What is missing to put this into action?"

Among other things that may or may not be missing but whose existence is 
vital:

1.    A large enough segment of the Moscow electorate willing to be educated 
on this issue.  There are many people who believe that the water issue is 
not that important at this time.

2.    Enough informed, willing and able persons to do the one-on-one 
education that it would probably take; the funds that it would take to 
prepare the materials for and to execute the education program.

3.    A majority on the Moscow City Council with enough courage and stamina 
to lead, to carefully plan, and to enact the program.

4.    A competent enough city manager and staff to successfully implement 
the program.

W.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nils Peterson" <nils_peterson at wsu.edu>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 2:58 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Water: willing to conserve but can't afford to


> Tom Ivey illustrates at least one type of person who would occupy the 
> middle
> position in my "Where do you stand" thread: willing, but unable.
>
> Thanks for the lawn-related suggestions. They sound cost effective.
>
> The toilet upgrade plan discussed earlier, if funded by new water users as 
> I
> offered, might work for Ivey. He would get a new throne and the feel good
> from saving water, with no cash outlay.
>
> My wife points out that she has heard there is an issue for some older 
> homes
> whose plumbing does not work well with low flow... We are guessing that
> things just don't move along well with less water.
>
> So, the City's program would need a means to evaluate a home for being a
> candidate to participate. Not much different than the phone company
> investigating if you can have DSL.
>
> So, what we have here is a voluntary program that saves water, at no cost 
> to
> the would-be saver, and transfers the savings of water to a would-be new
> water user when they get a building permit.
>
> What is missing to put this into action?
> 1. Deciding to adopt and become strict about adhering to the PBAC water
> budget.
> 2. Building the mechanism to swap the toilets (or other conservation
> measures)
> 3. Securing funding for #2.
>
> Anything missing?
> Does this list have the political will to support this idea?
> How would you go about selling it (or defeating it)?
>
>
> On 4/25/06 10:06 AM, "vision2020-request at moscow.com"
> <vision2020-request at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>> In regards to the last issue "where do you stand":  I want to conserve. 
>> But
>> it costs me more to conserve than I can afford.  The cheapest rain barrel 
>> I
>> can find is $100 plus shipping, I need at least 4 of them. I don't have 
>> the
>> money to purchase a new front load washer and would have a hard time
>> justifying it without an old broken one.  I can't afford to put in a 
>> sprinkler
>> system (I would love to have one).  Sure, I got a 3% increase in pay this
>> year, but my groceries, gasoline, clothing, health care insurance, and
>> basically all consumables have increased this year by more than 3%.  I 
>> pay
>> twice as much for water as my counter parts in southern Idaho.  And I 
>> just
>> found out I will have to pay out $4000 on braces for a child.  What do 
>> you do?
>> Where do you start?  I have low flush toilets and a water saver shower 
>> head
>> (you can get that shower head free from the city!).  What else can I do?
>
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