Water wise?

I got my utility bill today. Most of the costs are set:

• $34.60 for sewer
• $3.18 for storm water
• $16.81 for trash
• $1.90 for recycling
• 67 cents in trash tax. Why they don't fold that into the $16.81 is a mystery.
• $18.07 for water

So that's $75.26 of my $78.29 bill. The other $3.06 is the charge for our use of 300 cubic feet of water (about 2,250 gallons). That's lower than usual, but we were on the road a lot. We average about 500 cubic feet, so our bill is usually a couple bucks higher. In those monhts, 92 percent of my bill is set costs, and my choices work out to about six bucks.

On Friday in the paper, we published a small column the city is submitting each week to try to get people on board with water conservation.

I think you know where I'm headed here, but I'll just say it anyway.

Maybe it is time to ditch the set fee and switch to a sliding scale for use. I usually pay $24 for 600 cubic feet, so how about:

• $4 per 100 cubic feet for the first 10 units.
• $8 per unit for units 11-20.
• $16 per unit for units 21-30.
• $32 per unit for units 31 and up.

I'm sure a system can be worked out for non-residential users, too.