Community Policy
110° summers, an ever depleting groundwater table, no major reservoirs within a hundred miles, a desert ecosystem, and palpable lush green lawns thriving throughout the year. This picture is inherently flawed, but this is the norm for those who can afford it in Tucson, Arizona. Without community policy in place for water use, those citizens who do not mind paying outrageous water bills can consume water at astronomical rates in a city where water should be viewed as a scarcity. However, with no current water use policy in place there is nothing keeping those who choose to misuse their resources from doing so.
If I were to change some community policy in my hometown it would be regarding water use during the summer months, especially when rainfall is below annual average. There is policy currently in place, which requires the city to conserve and plan for sustainable measures, such as the use of grey water for golf courses and management of the Central Arizona Project, but nothing regarding homeowner usage. There are a couple of policy instruments that could be used to address this issue.
Voluntary instruments would aid in reducing homeowner water usage. Information is a powerful tool, and it is likely that many homeowner do not know the amount of water they are using to maintain their yard. A program aimed at increasing knowledge about natural desert landscaping would spread information about positive alternatives. In addition simply supplying information about the detrimental overuse of water could sway many homeowners to better ration their use. Along those same lines providing technical assistance to show homeowners how to get maximum efficiency from irrigation systems would curtail unnecessary usage.
In conjunction financial incentives would be another useful policy instrument for establishing change in the patterns of homeowner over water use. Pricing along a curve would be one option, where in once a homeowner passes a sustainable amount of water usage based on square footage or property acrage, the chargers would accrue at a greater rate. Along the same lines taxing on those who go over established water use amounts would achieve the same results. However, financial incentives would not be as useful as voluntary instruments in this case because the majority of homeowner who overuse water are not handcuffed by financial restraints. Therefore, I feel that a policy using information and technical assistance would be best to curtail the overuse of water in my desert community.
A recent article about the plights facing Arizona’s water policy due to budget cuts
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/article_7eb61ffd-331a-5956-887f-af9de9ea32be.html
I think you have a unique view on water usage having family in Arizona. Do you think most water policies have to be area-specific, or are there some that can be adopted on a broader scale? - Nick
ReplyDeleteI feel that in general water policies need to be regional-specific, because a desert ecosystem has different needs and would require different technologies from a forest or plains ecosystem, not simply based on rainfall, but also evapotransporation rates and topography. However, policies that address conservation could be easily applied on a broader scale, as conservation practices are not as widely varied.
ReplyDeleteThis is an important issue as water policy needs to be addressed on both national and local levels. It creates issues when the national and local policies overlap or are not integrated.