Are You Really Saving Money by Reducing Water Usage?

I've pointed out how the water conservation movement has caused people to spend thousands of dollars to reduce water usage.  As a residential water consumer you may never see any dollars in your pocket from money spent to reduce usage.  As an HOA it will be impossible to see any savings from money spent to reduce water.  Here's why.

In 2010, the rate calculated by the total bill divided by the number of gallons came to $.009677 per gallon.  From '10 to '11 I reduced my usage by 4740 gallons for the year.  However, the cost of water went up to $.0112376 for an increase of $.0015399.  Since we are talking pennies per gallon this may seem like a tiny increase in cost.  Yet this very very small increase in price made such a difference that even after reducing usage by 4,740 gallons my yearly water bill for '11 increased by $67.14.  For my annual water expense in 2011 to equal my 2010 annual water costs my water usage had to reduce by 10,715 gallons.  To see any kind of savings at all I had to reduce it even further.

Now in the last few years I've bought a dishwasher that uses less water, a front load washer that uses minimal water, started watering the plants by hand (equal to a drip system), reduced the number of times I water the grass per week in the summer, and don't overseed in the winter.  I turn off the water when I lather up in the shower, wash and condition my hair, brush my teeth, wash my car less often, stopped using my water softener, etc.  Plus, I only water the shrubs and trees like once a month in the winter.  I only plant flowers in the winter and use 2 gallons of water every 5 to 7 days. 

But, all these efforts have done nothing to actually reduce the annual water cost.  Now if I were to spend the money to remove the little bit of grass I could not lower usage enough to even equal 2010's annual cost.

Seems to me it's all a scam.  Reduce your usage and the costs still increase.  For me to see a reduction I have to save more than 2 full months of usage before I see any savings at all.  I'd have to have no landscaping at all, only shower once a week, eat off paper plates and plastic cups, do laundry twice a month, and leave waste in the toilet to reduce the number of flushes. 

The city of Scottsdale needs to reward those who actually reduce usage not punish them as it is now.  They need to give reduced prices based on the number of gallons you reduce your yearly total by.  Not tiered pricing based on what you use but based on what you reduce it by.  So, using the cost of $.0112376 then at the end of the year if you reduced usage by 2000 gallons you get say 2% off the per gallon price, a 5,000 gallon reduction gets 5% off the per gallon price the next year.  If you increase usage from your average household usage then your rate increases by 2% if you use 2000 more or 5% if you use 5000 more.  A reducing or increase of less than 2000 gallons results in no change or is subject to a higher base rate or sewer fees.  But, everything is based on your households actual usage to make it fair.  Some homes are bigger have large yards and some are small thus usage should be proportionate to size of home and number of people in the home and not on a sliding scale.   

As it is, there is no incentive to reduce usage or even spend money to reduce the amount used.  Especially, when it takes reducing usage by more than two months worth just to equal the cost of the prior year.  And that is with a price increase of only $.0015399 per gallon.