Thursday, March 02, 2006

Piracy On The High Water Bill

When you see waste like this I fail to see how anyone can say that public works are better than private business.  When companies are motivated by profit they do everything that they can to eliminate waste – when your government wants more money they just take it from you.

Imagine filling your bathtub and watching 41 percent of the water leak onto your bathroom floor.
That's what happens every day beneath the streets of Buffalo, according to a first-of-a-kind study that examines leaks in the aging water system.
The city pumps 29.6 billion gallons of water each year. But nearly 12 billion gallons goes down the proverbial drain. Most of the water is lost through leaks and bursts in the city's 900-mile maze of pipes...
Another jolting discovery is that Buffalo only collects revenue for 46 percent of the water it pumps ... Another 600 million gallons is stolen by water pirates who tamper with meters and take extreme measures to restore service after water has been turned off for nonpayment.
This same water system has raised rates for metered customers by 64 percent in the past four years and increased flat-rate bills by 55 percent.

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