Clean Water and the Cost of Living
The cost of living is forever increasing. Month after month huge portions of our earnings go towards little luxuries we have now come to depend on as the most basic of needs. The bills flood our mail boxes, so where is this money all going? Well, with all of the services and utilities that we “must have” there are only a few that actually sustain our lives. Many of us will spend close to a hundred dollars a month on our cable or satellite television provider, fifty dollars on internet access, and for others another hundred or more on cellular and home phone service. Where would we be without all of these expensive services? We might not have the best shows to watch or be able to communicate as easily, but we would be one thing: alive.
The water utilities we pay for each month are what keep us not only with water to take showers and indoor plumbing, but it is essential to life. The human body can go an entire month without food, but only a week without water. Without clean water we would be run the risk of catching many diseases which can reside in untreated water. Water is so important to our survival, and it is one of the cheapest bills we pay when compared to our other “must haves”. The average Mount Pleasant Waterworks customer pays around forty dollars a month and that is for the delivery of fresh safe clean drinking water and then we remove the waste and treat it before putting it back in the environment.
One Slow Morning
Many forget about how important their water service is. Outside of the bill we pay each month, our water service is not usually on our minds. Let us explore just one morning without water: Your morning routine will not be as easy. There will be no warm shower to wake you up and get you clean. Well, shower or not, that cup of coffee will be sure to get you going. Wait, without water that cup of coffee will be much harder to make. Well, coffee is known to stain teeth so maybe a day without it will help those teeth but, today your teeth will have to be dirty because without water you can not brush them. You are dirty, tired, thirsty, and have bad breath. This has truly been a tough morning. Luckily though there are just three more things to do before you head of to work: take your pills, take care of the dog, and start the laundry. Those pills sure will be hard to swallow without a glass of water. That laundry will have to wait because without water there is no way to get it clean. The dog is safe though, just put food in the bowl and pick up the water bowl to…once again no water.
A Convenience and Necessity
Fortunately this morning is fictional but, it could be very true. The purpose here is to show us all what water does for us in just one morning. In many countries around the world women and children walk up to 3.5 miles a day for drinking water and still it may not be clean and safe. Water provides us with many necessities and commodities we enjoy, but it still remains one of the cheapest bills we pay every month. Without clean water we could not cook, wash our clothes, water our lawns, and have safe water for drinking.
With everything our water system does for us it is surprising that it is still one of the cheapest of our monthly expenses. Take the time to think about how different your life would be without a public water system.
(Clay Duffie is General Manager of Mount Pleasant Waterworks and has more than 30 years of experience in water and wastewater management practice. He is a past President of the South Carolina Water Pollution Control Association and the SC Section of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and has led numerous national seminars on environmental, leadership and utility management issues.)
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Other Press Releases:
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It's All About Clean Water - Planning for Tomorrow, TODAY
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It's All About Clean Water - A Practical Guide to Irrigation
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It's All About Clean Water - Water by the Numbers -- H20
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It's All About Clean Water - Water by the Numbers - MPW
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It's All About Clean Water - Bringing Service to Your Door Daily
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It's All About Clean Water - Part 1 of 3 - Septic Systems
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It's All About Clean Water - Part 2 of 3 - Septic Systems
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It's All About Clean Water - Part 3 of 3 - Septic Systems
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It's All About Clean Water - National Drinking Water Week
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It's All About Clean Water - What happens When The Well Runs Dry?
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It's All About Clean Water - Hot Water
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It's All About Clean Water - Fairly Sharing the Cost of Water
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It's All About Clean Water - Shuckin’ Time in the Lowcountry
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It's All About Clean Water - Answers to Your Estimated Bill Woes
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It’s All About Clean Water - Unsung Heroes of Our Environment
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--Press Room
