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Should property owners be charged for the well water they use?

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  • #31
    Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
    Cow Poke suggested that the economic sector of the utilities would have a monopoly problem. Either we have lots of duplication or we force the utilities to establish local monopolies. So, this new thread http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...city-next-year
    surprised me. I do understand that the company that generates the power is still the same, and the grid is still the same, but I still felt surprised.
    It's a product of deregulation of power in Texas. The power producers are not allowed to have a monopoly (in most cases), and must sell electricity at wholesale rates to Retail Electric Providers (REPs), who then resell electricity to consumers. The producers sell the electricity at a discount to the resellers, then the resellers figure out how low they can sell and still make a profit.

    It's really EASY because it's only a matter of reading a meter, most of which is done remotely these days.

    There simply is not YET a similar process for water, since water is not on a unified "grid". But that would be an interesting topic.
    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
      There simply is not YET a similar process for water, since water is not on a unified "grid". But that would be an interesting topic.
      I would think municipal water systems can be considered to be grids or equivalent. I guess what you mean by "unified" is that all the various systems could be "tied together" but are not.


      It seems to me that one's civic responsibility would be to recycle the well water as much as one can afford. However, people should expect the "tragedy of commons" to happen if they don't get together and form an association that works to allocate the aquifer water based on free-market principles.
      The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

      [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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      • #33
        Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
        I would think municipal water systems can be considered to be grids or equivalent.
        Well, not really, cause they're mostly not interconnected. Particularly in Texas where water is scarce, sources of water are very closely protected.

        I guess what you mean by "unified" is that all the various systems could be "tied together" but are not.
        Correct -- with the electric grid, it's possible to "borrow" or "loan" electricity to other parts of the grid, because they are truly interconnected, often by high voltage DC interconnects.

        It seems to me that one's civic responsibility would be to recycle the well water as much as one can afford. However, people should expect the "tragedy of commons" to happen if they don't get together and form an association that works to allocate the aquifer water based on free-market principles.
        By "recycle", if you mean providing water to my cows who turn it into beef which is consumed on the market, or soy or corn which is also consumed, then yes, I'm already doing that a bunch. Heck, even the septic tanks return water to the ground and feed the grass, which the donkeys eat....

        Here's the problem, quite simply... water, when "consumed" is still water. When electricity is "consumed", it is transformed into heat or light or both or the turning of a motor or whatever.... once electricity is "consumed", it's "gone", and more needs to be generated.
        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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