The Price Is Right

The April 2010 issue of National Geographic is a must read for water resource engineers and planners focusing on water related public policy issues. The issue is entitled Water: Our Thirsty World and covers a wide and interesting range of global water related topics. One interesting graphic is "Cost of Water" and illustrates the water cost to a consumer by municipality (per 100 gallons, based on roughly 4,000 gallons a month usage, U.S. dollars, 2009). A small sample is provided below:

• San Diego, U.S. - - $1.85
• Fort Worth, U.S. - - $0.88
• Edmonton, Canada - - $1.17
• Mexico City, Mexico - - $0.07
• Havana, Cuba - - $0.02
• Santiago, Chile - - $0.43
• Newcastle, U.K. - - $1.46
• Berlin, Germany - - $2.52
• Rome, Italy - - $0.50
• Nairobi, Kenya - - $0.20
• Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - - $0.01
• New Delhi, India - - $0.03
• Karachi, Pakistan - - $0.01
• Beijing, China - - $0.20
• Jakarta, Indonesia - - $0.28
• Auckland, New Zealand - - $1.48

The list illustrates differences in the global price of water and the impacts of local economics, exchange rates, political systems, culture, water quality, treatment quality, and societal expectations. You take a commodity like water and get huge variations in the price of water based on many different influences. The list also illustrates the "under-priced" nature of water and the difficulty in water conservation and sustainability.