Help power Marketplace this winter when you support the show today. Donate Now!
Water: The high price of cheap

One way to ration water: raise the price

David Weinberg Apr 7, 2015
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Water: The high price of cheap

One way to ration water: raise the price

David Weinberg Apr 7, 2015
HTML EMBED:
COPY

California is in the fourth year of one of the worst droughts in the state’s history. California Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered cities to cut water use by 25 percent, but how do you achieve that?

One way would be to change the economics of water use, or in plainer terms, raise its price. But that’s harder to do than you might think, especially in California, the land of propositions.

Still, as of July 1, the price of water in Southern California is going up. The Metropolitan Water District, which brings water into Southern California from Northern California and the Colorado River, is charging penalties to utilities in the Los Angeles region that exceed their allotments. The cost of that extra water could be four times the current rate.

 

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.