How about some positive news?
The Department of Water & Power (DWP) stated today that, “Despite a population growth of 1 million people, the residents and businesses of Los Angeles are together using the same amount of water now that was used in 1979…the average residential customer has cut water use by 29.2 percent in the nine months since conservation rates and rules were imposed.”
The restrictions the DWP put in place include:
- Banned automatic water sprinkler use except on two days a week.
- Only allows lawns to be automatically watered before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m.
- Customers are required to fix leaks.
- Prohibited people from hosing down driveways and sidewalks.
- Imposed higher rates on consumers using excessive amounts of water.
- Reduced the amount of water that customers can buy at the lowest rate.
Not to miss an opportunity to use good news as an example, I’d like to point out that when you make something more expensive, people use less of it. This is the free market system at work.
It’s only when something is offered for free, or subsidized, that there is no limit on the number of people who are willing to sign up for it.
Imagine if water was free, paid for by the city through taxpayers? People would run the water in their showers for as long as they wanted, hose down their driveways whenever they wanted, leave their water sprinklers on all day long, walk away from a running hose to answer the phone or make lunch while washing their cars, etc…
Why? Because that is human nature. There is no limit on the demand for free.
If we can apply common sense concepts like this to social welfare programs we will see the same type of results.
Categories: Some Good News
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