leading by example

(above: actual shot of councilman peters' back yard*)

when i heard mayor sanders ask to keep our water usage flat for the months of february and march vs. last year (sorry, can't find the link), i immediately thought of city councilman scott peters, who actually uses one million gallons of water a year to irrigate his estate in la jolla. surely there was room for him to save some water since the county water authority called for increased conservation in July. but no, peters' water usage actually increased by 55%. what is this guy watering, acres of citrus?

there's no excuse for this kind of ridiculous waste by a city government leader. given our region's water woes, council members should be setting an example for residents by cutting water usage through landscape modifications, if necessary. i understand that peters has a large estate, but i'm sure he could still make quite a profit if he sold and moved to a smaller lot. more easily, just rip out whatever's chugging all that water and replace it with some drought-resistant landscaping.

since peters is termed out, voters can't toss him out in the fall. if he decides to run for office elsewhere, voters would be wise to consider whether they want this kind of person setting examples for san diegans. meanwhile, it would be interesting if the regional water authority were to re-consider their rate structure to address gross abusers like peters. here's the current rate set:

Single-Family Domestic Customers

The typical single-family domestic customer has a 3/4-inch meter (some larger homes may have a 1-inch meter). The total bill is a combination of the monthly meter base fee (which is based on the size of the meter) and the amount of water used. For billing purposes, the Water Department measures water used by hundred cubic feet or HCF. Each HCF equals 748.05 gallons.

The monthly charges for a typical single-family domestic customer are:

Base fee: $15.32

First seven HCF used are billed at $2.352 per HCF.

Second seven HCF used are billed at $2.551 per HCF.

Each HCF used after the initial 14 HCF is billed at $2.865 per HCF.

why not just keep increasing the rate for higher usage? it's not like the wealthy water abusers can't pay it, and these are residential rates, not business rates, where the water usage might actually be justified. feel free to e-mail councilman peters to ask him if he'll introduce that legislation.

(*: just kidding!)