Drought Effects

I have a news flash for San Diego City Manager Jack McGrory, who proposed rate hikes for everyone who does not cut water usage from 1989 levels: the drought started in 1986. Some of us have been saving water for three years now. To penalize us for not cutting back on already extremely low levels is unfair and is poor public policy. There is a logical solution.

Everyone understands that many homes have been built since 1986, so it would be much more complicated to require cutbacks to 1986 or 1987 levels than to 1989 levels. So use a little common sense. The L.A. Times article on Mr. McGrory’s comments reported that average household usage in San Diego is 349 gallons per day. The solution is to implement extremely stiff penalties for water usage over 349 gallons per day. By extremely stiff, I mean surcharges of 100% for the first 100 gallons over 349, 200% for the next 100 gallons, 300% for the following 100 gallons and so on.

Implementing the city manager’s plan would mean that I would suffer a surcharge when my household (including a 10,000-square-foot landscaped lot, two adults who work out every day and two dogs who need bathing three times a month) uses less than 250 gallons per day, 100 gallons per day below the San Diego average.

Under the city manager’s plan, the top water users in San Diego would not be penalized for using 5,000 gallons per day.

People who use less than 349 gallons per day are already saving water and should not be penalized, regardless of whether their use is 50% lower than 1989. I’m not opposed to mandatory rationing, but if the city insists on money penalties, let’s make them fair!

CYNTHIA K. THORNTON, San Diego