History in the Making

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Without clean, reliable water, we cannot build, we cannot farm, we cannot grow and we cannot prosper,” said California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last Friday, as he signed into law a “historic package to reform and rebuild California’s water system.”

The editor of our sister magazine, ReNew Canada, published a blog post this morning about California’s big news, also commenting on recent news that Winnipeg faces a possible water rate hike in the coming months. On Friday, the city’s Water and Waste Department recommended a four cent increase in the water rate and a five cent increase in the sewer rate, effective January 1, 2010. Under these new rates, a typical residential customer would pay $816.60 per year, an increase of $21.22, or 2.7% over 2009.

Are cities (and citizens, for that matter) finally realizing that we have to pay the true cost associated with the privilege of having quality water delivered to our taps, ready for our every whim and need? Let’s hope so. And let’s also take a moment to be thankful that we don’t have many major drought issues here in Canada—yet.

Watch Governor Schwarzenegger’s speech here. Find Peter Gleick’s critical rundown of the water package here.