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# Letter: Rising water prices are needed to curb waste in Santa Monica
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/no-free-lunch-editor/
- Published: 2008-06-17T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:55:12.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Andrew Everett Santa Monica*

Bill Bauer is in denial of the water shortage in this region. In his June 2 column about rising water rates, he suggested that the city of Santa Monica should subsidize the cost of water for its residents. His column appeared two days before Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought.

Making water artificially cheap would only make the problem worse. Public policy should focus on finding new supplies and/or curbing demand. Indeed, supply and demand will ultimately determine the price of water.

There are water conservation laws such as SMMC 7.16.020 to limit waste. It is illegal to hose down driveways and sidewalks. It is illegal to water lawns between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. But these laws are widely ignored. Realistically, people will stop wasting water only when it becomes too expensive to waste.

Rising water prices will also make drought-tolerant native landscaping more appealing. It takes a lot of water to sustain an Irish lawn on a desert lot.

Another way to control demand is to limit development. The New York Times reported on June 7, “As California faces one of its worst droughts in two decades, building projects are being curtailed for the first time under state law by the inability of developers to find long-term water supplies.” The article cited development projects that were stopped in Riverside, Kern, and San Luis Obispo counties. Apparently Santa Monica City Council didn’t get the memo.

Los Angeles outgrew local water sources 100 years ago. Construction on the first Los Angeles Aqueduct from Owens Valley began in 1908\. Think about how much Southern California has grown in the last decade, let alone the last century.

MSNBC reported on Feb. 12 that there is a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead will dry up by 2021, according to a recent study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Aqueducts carry water from Lake Mead to more than 22 million people, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

So what can be done? The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15 that Orange County has built a “toilet-to-tap” wastewater recycling plant. The plant cost $481 million to build and $29 million per year to operate. The wastewater is treated with reverse osmosis, ultraviolet light, and hydrogen peroxide, and then pumped into a groundwa-ter basin where it takes one year to filter through sand and clay before it is returned to the drinking water supply.

The Hyperion treatment plant near LAX was completed in 1998 at a cost of $1.6 billion. It treats 340 million gallons a day, but dumps most of the effluent 5 miles off shore. Taking this plant to the next level, following Orange County’s lead, would make a lot of sense. It would also cost a lot of money.

Desalination of ocean water is another potential source, but this process consumes a lot of energy, and as we all know too well, energy is not cheap.

So, there are things that can (and should) be done to assure drinking water supply, but there is no free lunch.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 17, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061708.pdf?ref=smdp.com)