Living in the Southwest, you probably don’t need to be told there’s a drought in progress. In the last three years, rainfall has been over thirty percent of normal, and this winter was especially dry. Many people are having to make the choice between keeping their lawns alive or saving what they can on their water utility bills. Worse yet, rates are expected to rise as cities continue to lose money through water conservation efforts. That’s right, even the conservation measures many cities have in place are costing too much, and shortfalls have to be made up in order to continue paying for other services and utilities.

Now comes the fun part. Some people think you haven’t been paying enough in terms of water utility rates. Program Director Sharlene Leurig of Ceres – a non-profit water sustainability advocacy group - thinks consumers have been underpaying for water services for decades. We’re sure you agree, right? Every time someone tells us we haven’t been paying enough for services, we always respond with “You’re right! I should definitely be paying more!”

That last sentence may contain some measure of sarcasm.

So what can you do? If you live in an area with water meters, your only choice is to cut back on water; let the grass die and maybe do laundry a little less often. Of course, if you don’t have water meters, then your rates may go up regardless. In the meantime, a lot of us are left wondering why - in the age of desalinization technology (a process by which salt is removed from sea water) – are folks having to pay or even conserve, considering seventy-five percent of this planet is covered in water. An oil pipeline is being built to the Gulf from Canada but they can’t desalinize water and pipe it northward?

Government and logic don’t often mix. Kind of like oil and water.

OK, we’ve done enough complaining about things we really can’t change, so we’re going to offer a little helpful advice. Well, we’re not so much as advising as we are linking to some advice that can help you cut down on your water-use utility bill. Here are more than a hundred ways you can save water. Many of them are practical and easy to implement. Others take a little more effort, but are probably worth it considering we’re in the middle of a drought.

If you find you are short this month in terms of funds and need some extra cash to pay your water bill, come visit CASH 1 online if you live in the Southwest for Personal Loans. We’ve got services in place that can get you some much-needed cash in a short amount of time, and we’ll work to get you the best rate possible so you can pay it back quickly and get on with your life. Hopefully the summer won’t be too hot and hey…
....maybe we’ll get some rain.