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

[Nils Peterson]

Not to judge Tom's finances, but it could be that even a fairly short
payback period would be an investment that was difficult to afford because
of the up-front cash outlay. I'd drive a Prius rather than an '87 corolla if
I could get over the sticker shock.


On 4/25/06 4:55 PM, "Bruce and Jean Livingston"
<jeanlivingston at turbonet.com> wrote:

> What is the estimated payback time for water cost savings to make up the
> cost of  a new low flow toilet?  Explain any assumptions necessary to the
> explanation/answer.
> 
> Bruce Livingston
>> 
>> At 2:58 PM -0700 4/25/06, Nils Peterson wrote:
>>> 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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