Posted 2/17/2009 06:28:00 PM by Douglas

Australia charges water service based on your home's value? How stupid is that?

HOUSEHOLDERS would be charged for each flush under a radical new toilet tax designed to help beat the drought.

The scheme would replace the current system, which sees sewage charges based on a home's value - not its waste water output.

CSIRO Policy and Economic Research Unit member Jim McColl and Adelaide University Water Management Professor Mike Young plan to promote the move to state and federal politicians and experts across the country.

"It would encourage people to reduce their sewage output by taking shorter showers,recycling washing machine water or connecting rainwater tanks to internal plumbing to reduce their charges,''Professor Young said.

Well duh! If you're not charged for your usage, why would you be concerned with limiting it? This is kinda funny, coming as it does from an Australian paper:

Professor Young said a sewage pricing plan, like the one proposed, was already used in the US.

"In places like the City of Bellaire, Texas (a virtual suburb of Houston), they do it and the system seems to work,'' he said.

I'm pretty sure people in Bellaire don't flush their toilets, anyway.

Labels: Duh