🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Feb12.195443.2088@kronos.arc.nasa.gov> chucko@kronos.arc.nasa.gov (Chuck Fry) writes:
>In article <1992Feb12.190502.22799@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> andy@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (Andy Freeman) writes:
>>In article <1992Feb12.025047.8915@kronos.arc.nasa.gov> chucko@kronos.arc.nasa.gov (Chuck Fry) writes:
>>>Need I point out that, even now, most of Sacramento has *no* water
>>>meters?
>
>>Need I point out that Sacramento is on a river sufficient to supply
>>far more water than it uses?  Given that, anything other than "broad
>>class" charging, with flat rates for most users, is silly.
>
>The recent growth of the Sacramento area suggests that this
>arrangement can't last forever.

What fraction of the river are they borrowing now?  Is it up to 3%
yet?  Would it matter if Sacramento borrowed 65%?  The word "borrow"
is intentional; water used in Sacramento is returned to the source....

>				And unfortunately, like money, the
>state and Federal governments redistribute the state's water resources
>(inequitably, of course, just like they handle money).  The water
>flowing through Sacramento is also needed to flush out the Delta area,
>to prevent salt water intrusion.

Sacramento's use has no effect on total river volume because the water
that Sacramento uses goes back into the river and the water table that
was fed by marshes that have been filled in; Sacramento merely borrows
the water because it returns it to where it got it.  This "used" water
is just as effective at flushing the delta as "new" water.  It is also
just as good for shipping to SoCal, but water shipped south can't
flush the delta.  All of this is independent of how much water
Sacramento "borrows" and then returns to the river.

>All of us must use water responsibly.  In the face of the state's
>sixth straight drought year, it's hardly fair to say "I've got mine,
>too bad about yours."

Actually, it would be fair to say "You've got yours and there's none
where I live, can I buy some?"  Even then you have to modify your
argument to account for the fact that Sacramento doesn't "use" water,
it merely borrows it from the place it returns it to.

Precisely why should others pay for your decision to live somewhere
that's expensive?  If it isn't worth the cost, then ....

-andy
--
UUCP:    {arpa gateways, sun, decwrl, uunet, rutgers}!cs.stanford.edu!andy
ARPA:    andy@cs.stanford.edu