Environmental Engineering Reference
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particularly to treat it to levels suitable for drinking,” says Maxwell,
author of the upcoming book The Future of Water (American Water
Works Association, 2011).
We're talking about astronomical amounts of money spent
on water, far in excess of the hundreds of millions of dollars that
change hands relative to water rights, adjudications, court cases,
treaties, compacts, and water-related investments. The average resi-
dential monthly water bill likely is affordable (for now), but the
dollars add up rapidly when you remember that everyone requires
water.
Consider a few cost numbers:
￿
Residential customers in the United States paid an estimated
$23 billion for their water in 2010, according to estimates
from Raftelis Financial Consultants (RFC), based on num-
bers from their biennial survey, conducted with the major
industry group American Water Works Association (AWWA). 2
That doesn't include billions more dollars spent by industrial
and commercial users.
Though prices vary dramatically depending on geographic
location, rate structures, amounts, and other variables, the
AWWA/RFC survey reports that the average monthly resi-
dential water charge was $27.82 for 1,000 cubic feet (7,480
gallons) in 2010, up 89.2 percent from 1996. The average
monthly rate for a commercial or light industrial user for
50,000 cubic feet of water or (374,000 gallons) was $1,112.58,
and for an industrial user 1 million cubic feet (7.48 million
gallons) was $21,710.52.
Americans spent an estimated nearly $10.6 billion on bot-
tled water in 2009, according to the Beverage Marketing
Corporation.
￿
￿
THE VALUE OF WATER
No matter how water is appropriated or who uses it, we can't live
without it. We need water to drink, produce our food, create our
power, manufacture and ship our goods, and carry on our everyday
lives. Therefore, it should be priced accordingly. Right?
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