Commentary on a Report by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water
by Robert E. Ulanowicz, Ph.D.
March 21, 2023
Turning the Tide: A Collective Call to Action is an extremely important document. The public is constantly and justifiably made aware that action to stop global warming is mandatory if we are to avoid catastrophe. What is usually not included in such warnings is identifying those factors that are likely the first to impact global activities. Ichetucknee Alliance Board Member Robert E. Ulanowicz has for the past five or so years predicted that the shortage of freshwater will be the initial leading shortage that will cripple national economies.
Turning the Tide suggests seven goals to be implemented to forestall global freshwater shortage. Of these, the third is of special importance to freshwater in Florida: “We must cease underpricing water.” With regard to Florida, this is an egregious understatement. Florida places no price on extracting its freshwater – none whatsoever! Water bills by local districts cover only the costs of delivery. No value is attributed to the water itself. Current governmental requirements, such as “Consumptive Use Permits” (also called “Water Use Permits”) and “Minimum Flows and Levels (MFL) Requirements” have been abject failures at stemming the excessive withdrawal of water beyond replenishment rates.
Ulanowicz’s written opinion (see footnote) is that only economic taxing of water use at tiered rates is capable of balancing human use with natural supply. In brief:
- The maximum sustainable withdrawal of local aquifers that doesn’t impact average aquifer levels must be estimated. Florida’s water management districts have refused to publish any such maximum yields, likely because they already have been exceeded.
- The rate of usage by all parties must be monitored automatically. This is no longer an impossible undertaking, because new technologies provide economical and accurate equipment to measure water use by all consumers, even domestic households. Measurement can be recorded continuously and queried at a distance at appointed intervals.
- All users must be assessed for the amount they consume and billed at tiered rates. By tiered rates is meant that minimal survival use would be without cost (survival water is a basic human right); additional water use is to be charged in steps (tiers) with per-unit charges increasing with each higher category of consumption.
Pricing water at tiered rates has been implemented by local communities with astounding success. Just knowing that their water consumption is being billed is enough motivation for users to conserve their use. Typical reduction of use is about 67 percent.
The overwhelming problem is the lack of political will to institute tiered water costs, both on the part of citizens and politicians. No one is willing to sacrifice small payments now to avoid major economic disaster within the lifetimes of most. It is precisely this barrier–the lack of political will–that Turning the Tide is meant to overcome.
To benefit our children and grandchildren, we need to make changes now to the ways we are living with water.
Footnote: See articles in the Tallahassee Democrat and Orlando Sentinel as well as Ulanowicz’s article on the Alliance’s Beloved Blue River website.