Muddled Thinking on Water Rates

I don’t believe that your editorial “Drought of Clear Thinking About Water” (March 6) reflects clear thinking on the subject.

You state that the city’s water rate system was meant to penalize those using more water and reward those who use less. I don’t believe this system really does that. I use more water than my neighbors, but I also have more land. It is entirely possible that I use less water per square foot than some of my neighbors with small lawns.

If my “extra” land were owned by someone else, the total amount of water used to keep vegetation alive would be the same, but because two different people owned the land, the rates to each would be lower.

I am not a millionaire, only a retired teacher who was lucky to get a good piece of land at a reasonable price 33 years ago. All of these years I have paid higher water bills than my neighbors because I used more water than they did. This was only fair. But to charge me more per unit of “extra” water is not fair or logical.

By the way, do manufacturers and businesses pay higher rates for the more water they use? How does the volume of water used by homeowners compare with that of businesses and manufacturers?

GAIL COYLE, North Hollywood