The Equity of Water Distribution - Assignment Example

1. An assessment of differences in the equity of water distribution Water usage in Houston, Texas Houston is the largest city in the state of Texas, and the fourth largest city of America. It is located in the coastal prairie in Southeast Texas, 80 kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico. Annual precipitation averages 1270 mm per year, and the climate is moderate with temperatures normally ranging from 0 to 32 degrees Celsius. The city itself officially has a population of a little under two million, with the greater Houston metropolitan area housing four million (Wolff, 1998). Houston’s water supply system is capable of supplying 2.11 million cubic meters per day (or 557 million U.S. gallons per day or MGD) of drinking water. In 1998, Houston’s water customers consume 1.35 million cubic meters of water per day. The former maximum daily pumpage, recorded in July of 1986, was 1.79 million cubic meters per day. More recently, however, Houston had pumped an all-time record high of 1.96 million cubic meters per day, during the heat wave in 1998. Houston uses water for retail consumption, irrigation, and industrial purposes. Presently, long dry spells have necessitated conservation efforts to extend available water supply. For the Sugar Land area, to reduce peak demand and total water consumption, Sugar Land residents are asked to water lawns according to the following schedule: •Even numbered addresses on even numbered days of the month from 8 p.m. to midnight •Odd numbered addresses on odd numbered days of the month from 8 p.m. to midnight (KTRK-TV/DT, 2011). From the manner scarce water is being apportioned with the voluntary consent of the residents, it is evident that all residential and commercial users are being allocated water equitably. Water consumption in Surat, India Surat is located at the mouth of the river in flood plain, and during the monsoon season it is the site of the concentration of water flow. Water is used for agriculture, drinking, water supply industries and energy generation. Its water supply is provided by the Ukai dam, which, save for the annual lean season, is not short of supply due to the annual monsoon that brings heavy rainfall and flooding (Bhat, 2011). Recently the Maranoa Regional Council introduced a new water pricing system for residential and business customers. The new consumption based system calls for the payment of a fixed service fee for ongoing connection, to which is added a charge for every kilolitre of water used. However, the Council has excluded Surat from the new pricing system; instead, the residents and business will be allocated an annual volume for use, with excess charge to apply only for the use of additional kilolitres over the allocation. The system is designed to cover the higher fixed costs of operating Surat’s dual reticulation system and river water treatment process. The higher cost of treatment is due to the fact that Surat’s water is drawn from the Balonne river instead of a bore, requiring a more expensive method of treatment (Maranoa Regional Council, 2011). The present status of water supply is reported by the Hydraulic Department of the Surat Municipal Corporation as follows: Population covered under piped network:- 82 % of 45 Lacs Area covered under piped network:- 56 % of 223.43 Sq. Km (Excluding agricultural area from total 326.51 Sq. Km. area of city) Source of Water: River Tapi Present installed capacity of Water Works (4 Nos.): 1178 MLD Present gross daily average water supply: 760 MLD Total storage capacity of all WDS & WW: 6300 Lacs Liters Source: Hydraulic Department, Surat Municipal Corporation, 2011 2. A forecast of future water demands (include how much treated water you think each person needs, how much should be allocated for other purposes, and a justification for these numbers). Houston, Texas As of 2006, the City of Houston expressed confidence that it is assured of sufficient water, because it receives and average of 50 inches of rainfall a year, and it has a 30 to 50 year supply. Its projection for 2060, however, is that the city will need three billion gallons of water a year, making water conservation and reuse an imperative. It is also apparent that as the population of Texas grows, water may increasingly become more sparse. Even now, the state is experiencing its longest dry spells since the longest drought in the 1950s, and the prospects of global warming looming. However, Houston’s water supply comes from its rights to 1.3 billion gallons of water per day flowing down the Trinity River after use in Dallas & Fort Worth (Wolf, 2006). Surat, India Eventually, a “user pays” system is contemplated to be applied in Surat, to defray the high fixed costs of water treatment (Maranoa Regional Council, 2011). The present equitable system of water billing appears to take into due consideration the burden upon the public for potable water provision, and that water will be fairly distributed among residential and commercial-industrial and agricultural users. However, it remains to be seen whether the “user pays” system to be applied in Surat will eventually become more burdensome to residents because ideally, the fixed costs should be weighted more against the industrial users, since they are the greater volume users and they have a higher capability to pay out of their profits, unlike the small residential user. The future water demand in Surat, for which the municipal government is presently planning, is shown in the graph following. Surat Total Water Demand. (Source: Hydraulic Department, Surat Municipal Corporation, 2011). Bhat, G.K. 2011 Coping to Resilience – Indore and Surat, India. Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN). Accessed 27 October 2011 from http://resilient-cities.iclei.org/fileadmin/sites/resilient-cities/files/Resilient_Cities_2011/Presentations/GKB_ACCCRN_ICLEI_Congress_FIN.pdf Hydraulic Department, Surat Municipal Corporation. 2011 Water Supply Master Plan. Accessed 27 October 2011 from http://www.suratmunicipal.org/content/hydraulic/water_supply_master_plan.shtml KTRK-TV/DT 2011 “Houston asks residents to voluntarily conserve water.” ABC 13 Eyewitness News. Accessed 27 October 2011 from http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8194899 Maranoa Regional Council 2011 “New Water Pricing System for Residential and Business Customers.” Accessed 27 October 2011 from http://www.maranoa.qld.gov.au/council/Budget%202010-11/Q_A_Changes_to_Water_Pricing.pdf US Environmental Protection Agency 2011 Water Management Plan. Houston Laboratory, Houston, Texas. Accessed 27 October 2011 from http://www.epa.gov/oaintrnt/documents/houston_wmp_508.pdf Wolf, V. 2006 “Houston as a Model City: Meeting the challenges of an environmental crisis.” The Future of Water. April, 2006. Accessed 27 October 2011 from http://www.cleanhouston.org/living/better_world/houston3.htm Wolff, G. 1998 An Overview of the Houston, Texas Waterworks System and its Comparison with the Tokyo System. Accessed 27 October 2011 from http://garywolff.com/subdir/waterpaper.htm Read More