Cities with water to burn.
May 30, 2002 1:16 PM   Subscribe

Cities with water to burn. "While some drought-stricken cities elsewhere in the nation threaten to jail people who waste water, Cleveland wants people to open their spigots... 'Don't be afraid of it. . . . We have trillions of gallons of water here.'" So why do Clevelanders still have to use low-flush toilets and low-output shower heads?
posted by Faze (12 comments total)
 
For one thing, because having plenty of fresh water isn't the same thing as being able to handle unlimited waste water, which is the primary reason for the move to low-flow appliances.
posted by dhartung at 1:19 PM on May 30, 2002


I suspect that proximity to the Great Lakes has everything to do with it. No state so situated is afflicted with drought.
posted by donkeyschlong at 1:21 PM on May 30, 2002


Let's see, encouraging people to waste natural resources to rake in tax dollars. Ahhhhh, common sense defying government bureaucracy. You know I love it.

Here's a wacky idea: instead of encouraging needless waste, how about a tax break for businesses and comsumers who actually conserve natural resources?

Nah, that would actually be a intelligent solution, so it will never happen.
posted by mark13 at 1:29 PM on May 30, 2002


"water to burn"?

Speaking of Cleveland and burning water, didn't the Cuyahoga catch fire regularly back in the sixties? Randy Newman wrote a song about it.
Cleveland city of light city of magic
Cleveland city of light you're calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember
'Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin' through my dreams

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on
Now the Lord can make you tumble
And the Lord can make you turn
And the Lord can make you overflow
But the Lord can't make you burn
posted by timeistight at 1:37 PM on May 30, 2002


Water has already been burnt.
posted by willnot at 1:47 PM on May 30, 2002


No, it was not regularly, it was one time. And Cleveland is a great city. Browns' fans excluded.
posted by starvingartist at 1:48 PM on May 30, 2002


I'd just like to say that I can't stand low-flow showers. I hate them with a passion.

Btw, You can't actualy 'run out' of water, once it gets evaporated it goes back into the water cycle. What you can do is exaust local supplies, and if that happens, you'll need to pump more in or move out, or use this 'low flow' crap.

What this really means is that some groups of people have found it favorable to limit watter supply in dry places, rather then pay to pump more watter. Other places have all the water they need.
posted by delmoi at 2:25 PM on May 30, 2002


I was wondering this morning where all the water was at - delmoi is right, the water is in the water cycle somewhere. It's not here in Colorado. I guess Ohio has it all.
posted by jazon at 2:53 PM on May 30, 2002






Thanks in part to the "lake effect," some folks on this side of Cleveland call it "the temperate rainforest."
posted by sheauga at 3:01 PM on May 30, 2002


Sheauga from Geauga. I should have guessed.
posted by Faze at 4:47 PM on May 30, 2002


In fact most of the east coast is a temperate rainforest .. its the largest in the world.
posted by stbalbach at 6:31 PM on May 30, 2002


SaveWater has more information about the drought(s).
posted by danec at 7:46 AM on May 31, 2002


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