(September 30, 2014 at 9:23 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Here's the problem with your analysis, Heywood - it's only going to take a handful waterborne illness cases requiring hospitalization to overshadow the cost of providing sanitary water to a whole lot of people. Water is cheap - hospital care isn't.
Water maybe cheap but it is not free. The money to pay for it has to come from somewhere. Where do you propose the money to run the water utility come from if the huge swaths of residence don't pay? Do you want to increase rates on the remaining payers?
Further there is evidence that many people who can pay only pay under threat of having their water disconnected.
Quote:During June and July, the peak months of the shutoffs, the department collected $1.7 million in money owed. In August, during the moratorium, collections were only $200,000. At the peak, the department disconnected around 900 homes a day, Latimer said.
http://news.yahoo.com/u-bankruptcy-judge...iness.html
