SHERWICK Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Gordon Pugh Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Plugging the leaks in the pipes would be a start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSG Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? how does the water industry operate in USA......Midwest especially texas is feeling the pressure at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son of Taeper Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? I'm guessing it's quite a free market as it stands. The water companies get to charge us for water but restrict the way we can use it. They allow thousands of gallons to be lost in broken pipes, tell Joe Public that they cannot use a hose to water some crops they have growing in the back garden, but are happy to allow thousands of gallons to be used as a water feature in Trafalgar Square. If we end up with standpipes I like to think it is so much worth it to wander down to the local park and look at the amount of water being wasted to show what a great country we live in. 2012, Olympics, a nation surrounded by water. No water sports please, that would be the icing on the cake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awaytogo Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? They would close more reservoirs and put prices up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicken Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Poor people would die of thirst. There can be no free market in water in a civilised society. Water in the US is less privatised than here IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver surfer Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Plugging the leaks in the pipes would be a start. I was reading an article that claimed UK water authorities are currently spending far more on fixing leaks than the value of the saved water. It's actually uneconomic, but the regulator insists on it because the media is so fixated on water leaks! The water companies themselves want to invest the money in aditional supply and purification, with a certain level of leaks as being simply the cost of operation, but the regulators (non-engineers to a man and disabled minority lesbian) are driven by PR and moralising rather than facts. Just saying... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopGun Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 I was reading an article that claimed UK water authorities are currently spending far more on fixing leaks than the value of the saved water. It's actually uneconomic, but the regulator insists on it because the media is so fixated on water leaks! The water companies themselves want to invest the money in aditional supply and purification, with a certain level of leaks as being simply the cost of operation, but the regulators (non-engineers to a man and disabled minority lesbian) are driven by PR and moralising rather than facts. Just saying... I think you've provided the answer to the OP's question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHERWICK Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) Poor people would die of thirst. But wouldn't the kindly rich step in and give some water to all of the "poor people" in return for, say, some work (down the mines or in their factories or something)? Edited April 5, 2012 by SHERWICK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 In America isn't Lake Mead (near Vegas) running dry? When I went on a heli tour to the Grand Cannon the pilot was telling me how it was running dry, but he couldn't really answer my question when I said they should let less water downstream - the reservoir had to fill up from nothing in the first place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixy Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? What, exactly, is a free market? I suspect only a few have any idea what a free market actually is. Might be interesting to discuss it though....... won't happen, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57percent Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 I expect water would become more expensive and everyone would be metered. No-one would die of thirst, but you might think twice before running a bath if you were really poor. Currently it's around 15p. Must be well over a week of drinking water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia O'Keeffe Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? everyone would move to Switzerland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 I expect water would become more expensive and everyone would be metered. No-one would die of thirst, but you might think twice before running a bath if you were really poor. Currently it's around 15p. Must be well over a week of drinking water. ....It will still cost more to heat it than run it........instead of the water being flushed down the plughole it should be used to flush the toilet or water the veg patch.....we need to start changing our ways of thinking and doing what we have always done when having been so used to abundance all around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phead Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 It's actually uneconomic Over what period? 1 Years accounts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lepista Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 ..Or perhaps, the water that is processed and purified becomes more expensive, and local solutions startt o develop for where water is needed for other tasks. Local supplies for washing clothes, a well in the garden for watering the plants, etc. Water demand drops, and an equilibrium is reached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the shaping machine Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? One of the problems we have is that when the utilities were privatised, the government of the day listened to merchant bankers and not engineers. Instead of selling off each local utility as a single unit, they should have separated the delivery network (for water that means the pipes) from the supply/treatment works and billing organisation. The local network should then have been passed the local authorities to be run as a non-profit organisation (think roads, street lights etc). This arrangement would have enabled multiple providers to set up and to genuinely compete on price and quality. The customer would also be able to move seamlessly between suppliers and a real free market would automaticly develop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the shaping machine Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 It would tend to monopoly and then charge as much as people are willing to pay (to live). A monopoly isn't a free market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guillotine Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 In short time we find ourselves at a phreatic market no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfs1959 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) Plugging the leaks in the pipes would be a start. Why? The 'low-hanging fruit' has already been sorted. The others are possibly uneconomic or will cause huge disruption for little gain. For example, there are areas of London where the economic cost of plugging leaks would make desalination a cheaper option. Edited April 5, 2012 by mfs1959 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Why? The 'low-hanging fruit' has already been sorted. The others are possibly uneconomic or will cause huge disruption for little gain. For example, there are areas of London where the economic cost of plugging leaks would make desalination a cheaper option. ....Didn't the water companies know what they were buying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lorne Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just wondering how a proper free market would deal with a severe drought? ...send for the rain maker...what else..?..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJAR Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) A monopoly isn't a free market. it can be, but only in the situation where a monopoly is the most efficient way of delivering the services that consumers want. Given I don't know how the current system operates I don't know what the "solution" to the current lack of rain would be. The main thing that would need to change is for market entry barriers to be a lot lower - how easy is it to set up a new utility company I wonder? In most markets a shortage is dealt with by increasing prices, prices rise and people will use water for fewer things until demand matches the supply. That doesn't work unless you pay for the water when you use it - which needs a meter and constant monitoring. Edited April 5, 2012 by LJAR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 In a free market somewhere without drought would trade with us and make a healthy profit on the water they sell us. Except we'd never get a free market, what we'd get is govt putting maximum prices on water, and no-one supplying at those prices and we'd all die of thirst. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 A monopoly isn't a free market. Thats the trouble with most govt privatization. You get 'private ownership', but the most important factor of any free market, the price mechanism, isnt allowed to take place, with private bidders simply buying/renting a state monopoly. That IMO is why most so called 'privatizations' (should really be called something more specific) are an unmitigated disaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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