The costs of energy and water are both rising, but the cost of water is rising faster, and at some point our monthly water bill will exceed our monthly electricity bill. This is not just a local phenomenon; it is happening around the country. In fact, the rapid rise of water rates is one reason I got interested in water conservation and rainwater harvesting.

In Santa Fe area our local electricity service provider, PNM, has raised rates 45% since 2008. Starting in 2009, the local water rates have gone up 8.2% a year and will continue to do so through 2014, for a total increase of 48%. 

Although locally it appears that the two are increasing at the same rate, the national picture shows a different long-term trend. Nationally, electricity rates have gone up a little over 2% percent annually since 2008, while water rates have gone up about 8% a year.

Different forces are driving these increases. Electricity rates are rising due to increasing operating costs (i.e. the increasing costs of the raw materials needed to make energy, such as coal, gas and water are all going up). While the price of water is going up to pay for improvements in infrastructure (replacing aging pipes and improving water treatment facilities); but it is also rising due to the increased costs of acquiring new water.  The Santa Fe Buckman Direct Diversion (BDD) costs nearly $200M to complete and is by far our most expensive water source.

The major difference between electricity and water is that there are available alternatives to traditional electricity generation systems, but no one yet has invented an alternative to water. As reported in the news recently, the price of solar panels has dropped significantly over the past few years due to the ramping up of manufacturing in China. Consequently, the cost of solar panels is now typically less than the labor in installing a new system.  As more solar panels are manufactured and installed and more installers enter the market, prices will continue to decrease over the foreseeable future. This "new power generation system" provides a direct alternative to power supplied by the electrical grid. In fact, solar power is likely to become a cost-effective alternative to the traditional energy grid within this decade. 

By comparison, water has no alternative and dehydrated water hasn't been invented as of yet. The only major way for a municipality to increase its water supply is to make improvements in the efficiency (e.g. fixing leaks, conservation programs, and wastewater reuse) or successfully bidding against other municipalities for new supplies. There is no more easy water.  New sources of water are going to be much more expensive because they will have to be transported further and processed more.

Consequently, water prices here and nationally will continue to rise while at the same time solar power and other "green" alternatives will keep a downward pressure on overall electricity rates.  Conserving water is the cheapest way to help keep water prices down, but "up, up, up" is the trend and is likely to be that way for the foreseeable future. 

Interesting Links:

Comparison of Water Costs

National Energy Prices

1. King County OKs rainwater as sole drinking water source
2. Atlanta passes potable rainwater ordinance
3. First Ever US Rainwater Market Study Released
4. Los Angeles City Council Unanimously Passes Low Impact Development Ordinance
5. Rainwater Wins Drinking Water Competition

1. One of the questions, that I have and I am sure many of the readers will have is - why?  Cisterns were always in the Keys, so it was a natural to build when we were building our new home.
   
2. Was 7,500 big enough?  No, it is not big enough.  Budget and space prevented us from putting in a bigger one. I have never met anyone that has a cistern too large.  Would have liked to go at least 50% larger.
3. Why concrete?  The house is made of concrete and it is part of the house structure.  Also it neutralizes acidity from rain and lastly it is widely available in our area.
4. Why an 8" cistern wall?  That is what the engineer advised.
5. Who designed the system?  I did.  I am ARCSA Accredited.
   
6. What is a rubber "dam" gasket?  It is a piece of rubber about 1/2" thick and about 8" wide comes in a roll.  It is put between the floor and wall to prevent any leakage.  Half of it is put in the base around the edges when it is poured and the other half is put into the wall when it is poured.
7. Do you use greywater?  No, I wish we did.  Regulatory barriers were a big issue in building green.  Greywater would have been another barrier and we did not have the time.
8. If you would to do it again, what would you do differently?  I would have smaller downspouts, design some way to move water between sides of the tank, consider using a floating extractor, a low level cut of switch to prevent the pump from burning out and re-analyze newer filtration methods.
   

By Stephen Wiman

In addition to its effects on biological and chemical processes, the variability of pH affects our decisions in domestic water usage. High-pH water often tastes bitter and may be an indication of the scaling potential of the water. Low-pH water may lead to the dissolution of pipes, particularly copper pipes. The EPA classifies pH under unregulated Secondary Drinking Water Standards and recommends a range between 6.5 and 8.5 pH units.

The term "pH" refers to the potential of hydrogen. The scale measures the logarithmic concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) and hydroxyl ions (OH-), which constitute H2O. Because the scale is logarithmic, a change in pH by a factor of 10 results in a change of one unit on the pH scale - the pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 and is a measure of the acidity/basicity of water. A neutral solution, with a pH of 7.0, is achieved when the activity ofH+ and OH- is balanced. Water that has more free hydrogen ions (over 7) is acidic and water that has more free hydroxyl ions (less than 7) is basic or alkaline. Acids lower the pH of a solution and bases raise the pH.

Well water is typically high in ions (both positive cations and negative anions) such as calcium and magnesium (the "hardness" minerals), sodium, potassium, nitrate, chloride and sulfate. The presence of these ions decreases the activity of the H + ion and increases the activity of the OH- ions, causing the water to be higher pH. Well-water pH is a function of the minerals taken into solution as the water moves through rock strata. In Santa Fe, our municipal water, which is commonly a blend of sources, has a pH ranging from 7.04 to 8.21, with both the low and high ranges occurring in Buckman Well Field water (2010 Water Report, Sangre de Cristo Water Division).

The term "alkaline" should not be confused with the term "alkalinity;' which refers to the "buffering" capacity of water, or its ability to resist or "buffer" changes that would make the water more acidic. The main sources of natural alkalinity, which limits swings in pH levels, are rocks containing carbonate, bicarbonate, and hydroxide compounds. Borates, silicates, and phosphates may also contribute to alkalinity.

Conversely, granite, which is a common aquifer in the Santa Fe foothills, has few minerals that contribute to alkalinity. Areas rich in granite have generally low alkalinity and therefore poor buffering capacity. We sometimes see low pH in water produced from fractured granite aquifers.

In general, reverse osmosis (RO) water, although extremely pure, has inherently low pH. This is not because of the RO process per se, but is a function of the fact that RO water has such low total dissolved solids, or mineral ions, that it has little or no buffering capacity. The easiest way to raise the pH of RO water to a more palatable, and less corrosive, pH level above 7.0, is to pass it through a food- grade, NSF-certified calcium carbonate (calcite) media filter. If you buy bottled water, most of which is mass-produced by RO, you can bet that the pH has been adjusted upward.

Stephen Wiman has a background in earth science (Ph.D. in geology) and is the owner of Good Water Company in Santa Fe.  He can be reached at 505-471-9036 and skwiman @ goodwatercompany.com.

The Drinking Water Book - How to Eliminate Harmful Toxins from Your Water

One of my good friends, Pete Garcia, always complains about Santa Fe water rates. "We have the highest water rates in the country," he says. Well, Pete, I hate to say it, but that is just about correct.  Our base water rates aren't the highest in the country, but as our tiered and summer water rates schedule kicks in, we do have some of the highest rates. Yet compared to other cities in the world, our water is still downright cheap. 

In almost any place in the United States, we simply turn on the faucet and it flows. This amazing infrastructure was built over the last century and has supplied us cheap, plentiful water for decades. Abundant water, cheap electricity and a great road system have been the backbone of our economy over the last century. However, access to cheap, plentiful water is becoming a thing of the past, not only in the Santa Fe area, but around the country and the world. 

In the United States, we are fortunate to have accessible clean water at any price. Over 46% of the earth's population doesn't, and people in developing countries walk an average of 3.7 miles to get access to water. One in eight people on the planet lack access to clean water. 

Access to an additional water source has been the main driver for Santa Fe's multi-year water rate increase (i.e., 8.2% annual increase from 2009 - 2014).  Our local Buckman Direct Diversion (BDD) project is estimated to cost more than $200 million and will provide both the city and county access to 5,605 acre-feet of San Juan-Chama Project water per year (an acre-foot is approximately 325,851.4 gallons).

This water is more expensive than water pumped out of the ground or piped in from local reservoirs. But even this source will not provide us with all the water we will need in the future. We live in a high desert, arid region and simply do not have enough drinking water to meet our growing needs. Per the City of Santa Fe Water Conservation and Drought Management Report, we are over-pumping the groundwater wells resulting in damage to the underground aquifer. Even in the best of years, the Santa Fe River reservoirs can only supply about half of the water our region needs. In very dry years, they cannot supply much water at all and emergency water restrictions have had to be put in place.

Due to projects like this, in which water is accessed from further away or it is of lesser quality and requires more processing, , water rates are rising here and around the world.  Most cities are now facing similar challenges. 

For example, the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, which has historically enjoyed cheap water, faces the possibility that Lake Mead, the city's prime water source, will run dry in 13 years if usage is not cut back. The city's water agency, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, has undertaken a $700 million project to dig a bigger pipe into the lake. Scott Huntley, a spokesman for the agency, said they are concerned that the city is relying almost entirely on Lake Mead for its water, and officials were seeking alternate sources. Las Vegas is turning to rural counties to the north to quench a thirst that the nation's largest man-made reservoir can't sustain. Plans include drilling wells and building a $1-billion pipeline to tap rivers and groundwater from neighboring rural counties. This will not be cheap water.

Comparing data in the recently released Black & Veatch 2009/2010 Water/Wastewater Rate Survey, -Santa Fe has the fourth highest rates of the 200 hundred US cities included in the survey, behind San Diego, Seattle and Baltimore, in descending order. This comparison is looking at Santa Fe's rates for 3,500 gallons per month, not including sewer, connection charges, taxes or any other fees or summer usage rates.

However, at 15,000 gallons per month or more, Santa Fe has the highest rates of all the cities included in the survey. The City of Santa Fe's tiered rate structure of $15.81 per 1,000 gallons consumed makes our water cost almost twice as much as the nearest city: Austin, Texas.

For the cities included in the survey, the average cost of water from 2001-2009 has increased at a rate two times that of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). These rate increases are being driven by the increase in energy prices, increased demand, aging infrastructure, and the distance and water quality problems mentioned above.

In another study, the Global Water Intelligence (GWI) published a survey of water rates in 261 cities worldwide. In that survey, Santa Fe is not even close to the top, in fact, US water appears downright cheap compared to other cities in the world. The lovely cities of Copenhagen and Aarthus, both in Denmark, the price of water is more than $20.00 per 1,000 gallons versus $5.81 in Santa Fe [you said $15.81 two paragraphs up]. Other cities that are by far more expensive are Paris, France; Gent Belgium and Stuttgart, Germany -- all over $10.00 per 1,000 gallons. It is worth noting that more than a few international cities provide water free or nearly free and these cities are some of the largest water consumers.  

In Santa Fe, we are blessed to have had a drought that forced our hand to become much more focused on water conservation, to raise our water rates, and to create a tiered rate system to motivate the biggest water consumers to cut back. These forward-thinking measures are why we have enough water today, and we should thank our city staff for this. Our city is now one of the lowest water use cities in the United States. But even with all these efforts, expect water rates to continue rising. 

To avoid the highest water rates, conserve water to keep your water usage below 7,000 per month from September to April and 10,000 per month from May through August.  Water is not just a life-giving resource, it is also an economic engine. There is simply no more plentiful "cheap" water; consequently, water conservation will remain key to sustaining the beautiful area we live in.

We live in a land of vast abundance, but northern New Mexico is, of course, also prone to water shortage. Water has sustained life in Northern New Mexico for hundreds of years; however, history has shown that we are prone to prolonged droughts from time to time and consequently need to manage water very wisely.  

It is a life giving substance - enabling our communities and economies to survive and thrive. This becomes especially apparent from the air, where one can see a vast majority of NM's population living within miles of the Rio Grande. Santa Fe is lucky in that it has both the Rio Grande and the runoff from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for its water supply. 

This easy access to water created an ideal location for our community and local agriculture. Garcia Street and the surrounding areas used to be farms not long ago. You can still see the sign for the old Gormley's trading goods store on Canyon Road, where local farmers would drop off their produce for folks from all around the area to buy. Of course, this store of bygone times is now a high-end art gallery, and its function has been replaced by the local farmers' markets.

To support an agrarian-based economy, Santa Fe used to have more than 30 active acquecias running through the city. These irrigation ditches were cleaned and maintained by the people living along them. They were the lifeblood of many northern NM communities. Of course, most are long gone, and we have moved from an agricultural-based economy to a more diverse, modern one. Although the method of moving our water has changed dramatically over the last century, our dependency on it has not. Water remains a local resource that is required for a strong, local living economy. 

Water is local and will remain local.

It has been the foundation of the economy for past decades and will continue for decades to come. It cannot be manufactured offshore, nor can it be outsourced. It is our most precious resource and it is the base on which our local economies are built. Even so, for most of us, water remains out of sight and out of mind.

Like our local produce, water is not a given and requires constant tending. Continued focus and investment is required to enable all of us to live in this area of abundant beauty. Without water, there is no growth, no local communities and no "us." We can be proud of our past water conserving efforts, but as any farmer will tell you -- last year's crop is no indicator for next year. 

Water is not only a life giving resource it also is an economic engine.  We have moved from an agrarian economy, to a mixed economy, but water is still critical to our growth.  Unnoticed, is it is also driving a growing number of thriving water-related businesses and we are truly blessed to have an unbelievable array of world-class water experts and water businesses that call Northern New Mexico home.   These businesses and individuals are local and can help us build a sustainable future in this arid area we all call home.

As published in the Santa Fe Real Estate Magazine, March 2011

• UK Rainwater Harvesting Market Grew 850% in the past 5 years
• National Water Research and Development Initiative Act of 2009
• APMO GTC finalizes green supplement and includes RWH
• Rainwater Is Safe To Drink, Australian Study Suggests
• Rainwater harvesting: quality assessment and utilization in The Netherlands
• Portland's Sewers Right as Rain
• Rainwater harvesting could be huge factor in safe yield efforts
• Stormwater: Waste or Resource?
• Rainwater is getting a serious look around the the world - Africa, Jamaica, Pakistan, Philippines
• A number of states published new Rainwater Harvesting related manuals - Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Oregon

1. National Geographic Special Edition - Water
2. Safe Drinking for All through Solar Disinfection
3. When Water and Energy Collide
4. Water is Life
5. The Oh Decade: Old water policies limit choices for future
6. Consumers Save Money, Water with EPA's WaterSense Program
7. Goodbye Pools, Lawns and a Whole Lot More: Why Life in the Southwest as We Know it Will Be History
8. Water Efficiency Is Key to Securing Our Water Supplies
9. Waterwise East Launches the Water Calculator to Make Water Efficiency Requirements Easier to Meet
10. EPA Proposes Updating Drinking Water Rule to Better Protect Public Health

Much is being written about 'Tap to Toilet' these days as a new water source for municipal water providers.  This type of tap water is your old toilet water cleaned and sent back to the tap.  As you can imagine these are big, costly water infrastructure projects. 

In an effort to seek viable alternatives California announced a couple of years ago a project, whereby used water would be cleaned into drinking water.  The project was shelved due to public outcry. It is back.

In August of 2010, the San Diego City Council launched a pilot program to do just that - 'Tap to Toilet'.  The public remains skeptical about the cleanliness and drinkability of the water and there are many that have raised concerns in the treatment and purification of the water from waste to potable.

The term 'Toilet-to-Tap' angers and scares the public very easily. Originating from Gerald Silver, an angry Encino homeowner's association president who used the phrase in 1995 during a debate over it in Los Angeles; consequently the industry prefers to use the term IPR (i.e. Indirect Potable Reuse ) instead. 

Typically the IPR process for treatment of water involves a multi-phase filtration system broken down into many, many steps.  During the first few processes, the water passes through various screens and sedimentation, including beds of anthracite coal, which removes most suspended solids from the water. According to many experts familiar with the process, the water at this point is safe for irrigation and other non-drinking uses.

In fact, many cities across the United States and around the world use this processed water already for irrigation of parks and golf courses as well as other industrial uses.  Of course, to be ready for drinking it must be further filtered and cleaned and meet EPA Drinking Water Standards.

With over 90% of its drinking water imported, the growing city of San Diego is facing a water crisis - it is only a question of when.  A recent federal judge's ruling that may limit the amount of fresh water that can be pumped from the San Joaquin River Delta in an effort to protect the delta smelt, an endangered fish is just one thing that could throw the whole water supply equation totally out of balance so the city is at the forefront where IPR may become a reality.

It is an emotional issue and consequently some arguments are not entirely based on reality.  Many, many communities today are using water that was used before.  Unless you are fortunate to be near a fresh the source of water or rely totally on well water the chances are very high that the water you are drinking partially came from a waste water treatment plant upstream.

To make this water drinkable it is mixed with raw water and then large plants are built to process it before it gets to the tap (i.e. new treatment plants are usually hundreds of millions to billions of dollars depending the on size of the plant).  There is a gigantic industry supporting water treatment due to the monies and potential profits involved, so you can be sure it is going to happen - it is just a matter of time.   

The other 'Tap to Toilet' that is not getting as much coverage in the press these days is piping your used bathroom faucet water into your toilet and reusing it a second time.  Not very exciting nor very expensive.  Given toilets are the biggest water users in a house the potential water savings are enormous.  But this is of little interest to water providers as they make money selling 'new' water; not promoting reuse of water in the house two or three times.   

These inexpensive devices direct the water from your faucet that would normally go down the drain to go instead to a basin hooked to your toilet.  To avoid the 'tap to toilet' controversy these are sometimes referred to greywater toilets; although the toilets have nothing to do with the installation - it is the water source that is changed.  So instead of flushing clean drinking water down the flush you are flushing slightly used water - saving literally tons of water over the life of a flush and billions of gallons if implemented across the United States.

There were an estimated over 350 million public and private toilets in the United States and growing.  That is a lot of gallons flushed no matter how you look at it. In fact, residential toilets account for about 30 percent of all indoor residential water use in the United States and faucets account for more than 15 percent of indoor household water use. 

So marrying the tap to the toilet just makes sense.  So why is no one picking it up and pushing it as a great inexpensive solution.  Especially, since the US government is projecting that over the next 5 years water shortages will occur in nearly every state.

My bet is on the money.  Inexpensive, highly distributed, cost-effective approach to saving water versus highly-costly, centralized approach - my bet is on the latter just due to the dollars involved.  But my heart is on the former as a much better solution for us all. 

What do you think?