For me, water has gone from being the cheapest utility to the most expensive. I have no idea why I pay so much every month for water. Especially considering that my front yard is practically a desert, and I don't use that much water overall. I'm literally the poster child for water conservation, but I still pay a ton. Go figure.
Water might be free, however you would be in trouble if you started drinking water out of a river or something that hadn't been treated. You're paying for the upkeep of the treatment centres, the staff who work there, the maintenance of the network of pipes and the people who fix those when there's a leak - and of course there has to be SOME profit for the company, otherwise where would be the motivation for them to do it for us? I don't mind paying for water. I really don't. It is quite a reasonable price if you think about how much you use every month.
I would start looking for water leaks. Even the smallest leak can add cents to your bill which can eventually add up to dollars. Just feel around exposed pipes in your home and if your fingers are wet there's your problem. I just called in a plumber to repair small leaks in four areas inside and outside our home.
In the UK, people pay a set rate or have the option of having a water metre fitted to measure what they are using to pay accordingly. I pay the set rate and this is about £28 per month. At current exchange rates, that is about $44 per month. When you think that this is less than $1.50 per day, it doesn't seem a lot to pay for clean running water to your home. It is certainly a lot less than I pay for gas and electricity.
I am happy that we do have water that is safe to drink for our families. There are so many places where the water is not safe to drink and I think if they heard a person that has access to clean water complaining about a bill for the water they do get would consider it a small price to pay and a blessing to be able to pay the bill. I do agree that we are paying for the service of keeping the water clean and bringing the water into our homes.
Different utility companies figure out their charges in different ways. Some places just charge a flat rate, and you can use as much as you want to use. Other places (most places now) set a minimum amount that is included with the basic bill, and then so much per gallon (or multiples of gallons) after that amount.. The city of Huntsville, AL (where I live) has a very frusterating way of charging for water. We pay for water and we also pay for sewage. Since they assume that whatever water we use is being flushed into the sewer system, they triple the amount for water and charge that for sewer useage. This might be mostly true in the winter; but in the summertime, people are out watering their lawns, and filling up backyard swimming pools, and stuff like that which doesn't go into the sewer at all. But you still pay for that water usage just the same as if it did go into the sewer. I think that this is very unfair; but the only way around it is to have a separate meter installed at a cost of $400 or more, and that meter is jut for watering and outside use. If you own your own home and plan on living there a long time, this mightbe worthwhile; but if you are a renter, then it is not do-able at all.
Over here, our only choice is to pay the water bill otherwise the company may cut off the water supply. There is a suspected anomaly with the water company because they charge a high fee for installation as if you are paying for the pipes that they laid in the main road. But in terms of quality, it is guaranteed to provide clean water that is potable.
This is the case with most commodities. Most things are free dirt cheap including water. The causative factor of the steep prices is the cost of fuel and infrastructure which is a form of place utility.
I'm quite conscious when it comes of using water as a commodity, since I really grew concerned about our freshwater reserves after reading something about a U.S river drying out to excessive water usage. The service is cheap as heck, but I don't like wasting more water than I need anyway.
I also think we are paying for the filtration and service of getting the water to or homes. While I may no always agree on the price I do understand why I am paying for water.
It takes plenty of work to get the water to the residences. It takes a big conglomeration of employees to get everything done and working right. Those employees have to be paid. We live out in the country and we don't live on top of an aquifer. They have to pipe the water and long, long distance to get it to our place. If it were not for the water company, we would not be able to live out here.
I don't think anyone understands because you don't deal with it on a persona basis. But paying for water isn't just paying for water to drink. It's piping it to your house, making sure that it's clean and safe to drink, and then dealing with the waste water. Indoor plumbing stopped the spread of massive disease when people used to dump their waste outside. So just remind her that every hot day, that her road would smell like rotting feces if it weren't to the water in her toilet.
I think that you're perfectly correct that we are paying for the service instead of the actual water itself. However, I still wish that I could simply just walk to a well, and get water for free... I actually have a public well near my house, though you have to pay to use it. A dollar per five gallons, I believe. I usually don't get bottles, I usually just save old bottles and fill them up with the well water, which saves me a lot of money. Unfortunately, clean water is a rarity in many places, which is why we have to pay for people to treat it. In the United States, which is my country, we have a lot of pollution. You see, I live by a river and a creek, and I remember my grandmother telling me that her and her friends used to walk to the creek and drink right out of it and never get sick. However, we can no longer do that today because of all of the pollution in it. One of my friends did an experiment on the creek five years ago, and she found that the creek actually had very dangerous substances to drink in it. Her father, who works in water treatment, confirmed this. There are very few places that has clean water anymore.
I think what's more unfair is that some states made it illegal to collect rain water, even if you only use it to water your plants during a drought. I get paying for the service of getting water to my house instead of going to hall water from a river or a well a couple miles from my house. But I don't think the government has the right to restrict collecting what falls on your property.
When I am living in my farm I don't have to pay for water. I have deep boring installed which gives me free water, I will have to pay for electricity bills though (I use electrical motor to lift water from the deep boring). When I am in the city, I will have to pay for water.I pay $5 for 20 liters of water. I buy drinking water and for use ground water for other purpose.
I also don't have a water bill since I have a deep water well. We have no sewer system here either, and rely on septic tanks. Although it is great to have no water bill, the disadvantage is that we have to pay for a septic cleaning every 5 years. It is not terribly expensive, but is an expense that has to be worked into the budget. It is still cheaper than a water bill every month I am sure.
We are not necessarily paying for the water but we are paying the cost of bringing the water from it's source to us. There are numerous costs that are associated with the provision of the water. Such as staffing, equipment maintenance, and energy charges to move the water from one place to the other, just to name a few.
