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Make Water Guzzlers Pay

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 12, 2009

We all know people who are seemingly unaware of the water crisis in the Tampa Bay area. They're the ones whose sprinklers are flooding the streets every night in the wee hours when no one is watching.

The rest of us can turn off the faucet while we're brushing our teeth or shaving, turn off the shower while we're soaping up, among other rigorous forms of water conservation, and still not make up for that kind of excess.

Tucson, Ariz., found a cure for a similar water crisis years ago that is elegant in its simplicity. They doubled the water rates. Almost immediately, landscaping that had no place in a desert environment was replaced with low-water-use xeriscaping.

Unfortunately, in the Tampa Bay area, voluntary compliance hasn't worked. What will work is a system that rewards conservation and penalizes waste. We would learn to live with drought-tolerant lawns, trees and other plantings.

BOB KENISON

Tampa

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