3 ms·

I'm confused. You think that those poor people living in that town could afford to pay more for their water than farmers? The water they are getting is DONATED

• _delirium 12y ago
  They're also not even on the state water system at all, so what Central Valley farmers do or don't use doesn't affect the particular situation written about in this article. The article is about people in remote areas, off the water grid, who have private wells that draw from shallow aquifers replenished by rainwater. Since there is very little rain, the wells are dry this year, so they have to truck in water in plastic drums. The agriculture vs. residential vs. industrial policy/pricing debate is more about how to split water between entities connected to the big state-run aqueduct system, e.g. Central Valley agriculture vs. LA/SF. Which is also important, but a different situation from this one.
• cpwright 12y ago
  Even if you're poor, I doubt having to drive to the fire house and fill buckets or 55-gallon drums with free water is going to be cheaper than a municipal water system (paying for gas, paying for those buckets, the time that you can't spend working at an hourly job). I would expect that if this persists, a commercial water delivery industry will spring up in the area. Of course, either way, you are very motivated to use much less water than you would if your well worked for actually free.