If Yellow, Day Will Mellow. Third Time Brown, Flush It Down!

[Lloyd Danforth]

Householders to be charged for each flush of toilet




http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,24659589-5005369,00.html

[J’raxis 270145]

The title is silly, but this is a good thing: Apparently in Australia they currently charge people for sewage based on their home's value, and this is about instead basing it on actual sewer usage. It's replacing a sort of "progressive" scheme (in the "graduated income tax" sense) with an actual user fee.

[AntonLee]

build yourself a privy!

[K. Darien Freeheart]

The title is silly, but this is a good thing: Apparently in Australia they currently charge people for sewage based on their home's value, and this is about instead basing it on actual sewer usage.

This is the third time I've seen this or something very similar... this idea that because something is "subsidised" means it's bad. I understand when those subsidies are used to justify FORCE, but I don't see why it's a bad idea if done voluntary.

If there were competition in the sewage industry, you might well see this kind of thing happening. I can imagine that a sewage company might offer, say, a housing authority a discount because of the volume they'd be pulling in with one fell swoop.

I'm not always against subsidy. Loss leaders are a WELL known, liked and used tactic to encourage people to purchase.

I don't see how this is really "better" or worse - the only problem I'd see at all is with the fact those people can't choose the other.

Am I missing something?

[Pat K]

I see a return of the old light up
a bag of shit, ring the bell and run
game.

Hopefully  on every politicians house.

[Pat McCotter]

"As nearly all of (the homes in) mainland Australia's cities and towns already have water meters, introduction of a volumetric charge, such as that used in the City of Bellaire, [TX] would not be difficult to implement.''

If water usage is based on home value what are the meters used for?

[KBCraig]

In suburban America (where sewer and water service are typically purchased from larger urban or regional providers), sewer charges are often based on metered water usage. In areas where a great deal of water is used for landscaping and gardening, customers are way over-charged, because that water never enters the sanitary sewer system, yet they are charged as if it does.

People don't use the bathroom more in summer than winter, but their sewer bills make it appear as if they do.

In some areas, it's based on the number of bathrooms. I don't know of any location where it's based on the number of people living in the house. A widow living alone in a 3 bathroom house would pay more for sewer charges than a family of 10 living in a one bathroom house.

It's hard to meter actual sewer usage. Chunks tend to foul the meters.

[Moebius Tripp]

1977 classic, Goodbye to Flush Toilets!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/10560770/Goodbye-To-The-Flush-Toilet-WaterSaving-Alternatives-To-Cesspools-Septic-Tanks-And-Sewers