This WUNC report features one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard for conserving water. Some lady wants to use "gray water" (water that has been used for showers or dishes) that would otherwise find its way into (gasp) the sewer system (duh, where it will be treated and recycled as clean water) and use it to water her lawn. Am I missing something here or did WUNC really consider this an "innovation"? Does this genius really expect to conserve water by sprinkling it, clean or dirty, on her lawn?
To be fair, the New Jersey transplant at the beginning of the piece talks about a water collection system on his roof — which is not a bad idea on its face — not sure how that would look to the neighbors, but nevertheless…
Yet in all these reports where well-meaning people are doing their best to reduce water usage by "half" as Emperor Easley would have us do, no one suggests changing the Soviet-style water provision system we have to begin with. By using a pricing mechanism of the market, we’d never, ever have to face top-down water restrictions again. "Environmental engineers" and various other greenie characters always want to propose something cost-prohibitive, draconion, labor intensive, or positively Rube Goldbergian for their solutions, when the answer is normally very simple indeed.
-Max Borders
Leave a Comment