Speed blogging

1. Cynthia Barnett in the LA Times:
   

   The illusion of water abundance at its most obscene: the water sector and large water users are so adept at capturing water and moving it around our cities and regions that the average American never has to worry about how it all works — until it doesn’t, just like credit default swaps or too-big-to-fail banks.

2. Here are (pptx slides and 15 min mp3) for my London talk “Untangling the price, cost and value of water” — plus our panel discussion on value, tariffs, metering, etc. (21 min mp3).
3. “IWMI Examines Role of Water Users’ Associations in Groundwater Regulation in China” and VW works to protect groundwater in Mexico (is that a non-market failure?)
4. Very funny: “Texas town adds sugar to water supply to encourage residents to drink more water” (there are 2 Tbl of sugar in 8oz of coke).
5. Wessex water (UK) issued a study of the effect of metering and tariff designs on water consumption. Meters cut demand by 15 percent; tariffs can cut demand by some bit more (statistically), but complex schemes may cause more customer complaints than the savings deliver.

2012-11-22 17:23:50

Source: http://www.aguanomics.com/2012/11/speed-blogging_22.html