Regarding Michael Jacobs' Feb. 21 Point of View article on comparative financial stewardship among North Carolina municipalities: Jacobs adds property tax rates to costs derived from a presumed average water use of 15,000 gallons per month and comes up with a comparative chart of municipal costs which places Chapel Hill dead last. Oddly, Jacobs, who lives in the heart of Chapel Hill, appears not to know that average Chapel Hill water consumption is only 4,500 gallons per month, less than a third of his figure.
The reason OWASA [the local water and sewer agency] customers use so much less water is that the Chapel Hill/Carrboro community has adopted a water conservation ethic that has decreased consumption even as population has increased. The use of common sense measures has allowed OWASA customers to use less water with no discernible impact on their day-to-day lives. In the future, everyone will be following OWASA's example. Such conservation should be understood as an important aspect of municipal stewardship. not only environmentally but financially as well.
My advice for Jacobs and other water customers is to make your water bill your friend. Use it to track your month-to-month consumption. Then, as you add conservation measures like low-flow shower heads or rain barrels, you can enjoy watching the savings flow in.
