There is a lot of disagreement among us about how best to conserve water. Some say that we should abolish lawns. Others say that we must curb agriculture, particularly alfalfa farming. The real solution will probably involve a mix of all of these things.
But which mix of these ideas is best? We don’t have to decide right now! A cap-and-trade system would allow us to cap our water usage at an amount that we know is sustainable, giving us the confidence that this problem will be solved, while also giving us the flexibility to figure out on the fly how best to use the available water.
That flexibility comes with the trade system. Every farmer, factory, municipality, etc., gets a certain amount of water credits, granting them access to a certain amount of water based on current usage patterns. If any of these entities are able to use less water than they’ve been granted, they can sell their water credits for cash on the marketplace to other entities who need the water more.
We can also set aside a certain amount to guarantee inexpensive drinking water for Utahns.
What I like about this system is that it solves the problem directly — we decide from the outset how much water we’re going to use, and that is strictly enforced. But, the details remain flexible. More action, less arguing!
This can also be combined with other ideas, such as incentives for xeriscaping.
This system was enormously successful in solving the acid rain problem by curbing sulfur dioxide emissions much more quickly and cheaply than originally projected. We should employ this tool once again to solve our water crisis.
Frank Sullivan, Sandy
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/W2wyh6d
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