3 ms·
> It doesn’t cost differently to provide water and sewage to poor neighborhoods It costs more to connect neighborhoods which are further away from the town cor
by lupusreal 3y ago
> It doesn’t cost differently to provide water and sewage to poor neighborhoods
It costs more to connect neighborhoods which are further away from the town core, or up/down hills (requiring pumping). These may in some circumstances correlate incidentally with poverty, causing a "disparate impact" which nobody set out to deliberately create.
For instance, consider a trailer park that is several miles out of town because that's where land was cheap and where zoning permitted it; running water and sewage service there from the town will very likely be cost prohibitive. Instead, water will probably come from one or more private wells and sewage will be sent to a septic system dug specifically for that neighborhood. This will be done because it is more affordable than hooking up to the town's utilities.
- dogman144 3y agoYou left out the other part of the quote > at least as far as the consumer is aware and in theory for how it’s supposed to work. Costs to deliver are one thing, what the consumer ends up paying if they are low income is another. Across the board, controlling for state-by-state variations, poor folks aren’t (supposed to) be paying premiums in cost or quality on their water/heating/sewage. Often, they are subsidized. This law proposes pulling the internet into that basket of approaches. Seems good to me.
- tzs 3y ago> It costs more to connect neighborhoods which are further away from the town core Isn't it usually the wealthier neighborhoods that are farther out?
- lupusreal 3y agoThere are more poor people than wealthy people living in town outskirts and rural areas.