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The new Water and Carbon Tax

RadX

By RadX,
in Lite & EZ

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RH1667

RH1667

Hypersonic

First you pi char their extra income. Second, there is no stopping them from collecting rain water tax.  [laugh]

 

Later ah gong say that putting up ownself water catchments is illegal. [laugh]

 

And they will charge/tax you more on stronger structural integrity of the building because holding an additional tank of water on the rooftop means heavier loads on the building itself.

 

 

 

and all for letting us know that water is a precious and important commodity!! 

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therock

therock

Supersonic

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/a-lesson-in-water-conservation

 

Food or perhaps, water for thought:

 

 

 

Forced to ration after a water main burst made me appreciate that clean water from a tap is a luxury

I thought it was a joke when I heard it on the radio.

All the residents of Chapel Hill were being asked to stop using water from their taps until further notice.

According to the news broadcast on the morning of Friday, Feb 3, a water main supplying the town had burst and the spillage had caused water levels to drop so low that it was in danger of contamination.

To allow levels to come back up, everyone receiving piped water had to stop using it.

I turned off the washing machine and said to my husband: "If this is true, there will be a run on bottled water at the grocery store."

 
 

My husband seemed remarkably unconcerned. "I wouldn't worry about it," he said.

st_20170312_shcol12_2997981.jpgST ILLUSTRATION: ADAM LEE

Nevertheless, I thought I should stop in at the Harris Teeter near the gym after my lunchtime workout.

As I parked the car, people were streaming out of the supermarket with carts piled with water.

Sure enough, the shelves were almost bare.

I stood there and stared at them with the other latecomers.

Finally, I left with one 24-pack of bottled still water and a case of sparkling water. As I passed a man loading up at the wine section, he joked: "At least we won't run out of beer."

I rang my mother-in-law, who was running errands in another town and advised her to buy water before coming home. She told me later the Walmart in Morrisville was low on water as well by the time she got there.

On social media, friends who had bottled water offered it to those who did not have.

There are 60,000 residents in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and most are on piped water, though a small number have private wells.

Besides those who live or study here, however, thousands more commute to this college town to work.

The unexpected moratorium on water use upset just about every business in Chapel Hill and the adjoining town of Carrboro that day since no one could drink it, cook with it, wash with it or even flush the toilets.

Every restaurant was ordered closed. Hotels desperately rang those in Durham and farther afield to relocate guests. Weddings were moved, clinic appointments postponed. I wondered how the hospitals and the university, the town's main employers, coped.

Even the kids were sent home early from school, in the interest, I think, of personal hygiene.

This mishap had its beginning the day before, when an employee at the water treatment plant inadvertently added too much fluoride to the water supply.

The plant had to divert this entire supply of water to the sewage treatment system. Chapel Hill then asked its neighbour city of Durham for water, but there was already a critical shortage when the main line burst on Friday morning.

This unexpected mandatory rationing was a new experience for me.

Certainly, we have power outages every now and then, especially during storms. People still talk about Hurricane Fran, which in 1996 caused widespread destruction and shut down power in parts of the town for days.

But it was strangely unsettling to know every part of the town was impacted. Even my own house wasn't a place I wanted to be.

My husband said not to worry when I came home with my small supply of drinking water.

We have a swimming pool with 20,000 gallons (76,000 litres) in it, he reminded me. Pretty cold winter-time water, but he said he would do all the fetching and carrying.

I didn't relish the thought of drinking swimming pool water sterilised with a little bleach, but we could certainly use it to wash plates and fill the toilet cisterns.

You quickly learn that when having water means hauling buckets, you whittle down all its uses to only what you need. You also reorganise your life around its availability. We are eating dinner out, I declared. And all meals till it comes back.

We devoted one bucket to the toilet, aghast to find that half a 5-gallon pail was needed for a single flush.

I began warming pans of water for washing. Doing the dishes took far longer than usual and I had time to think about how to re-use the water: one basin to soap, one basin to rinse. Any leftover went to the toilet.

I sent a text to out-of-town friends who had invited us to a Chinese New Year potluck the next day that it didn't look like I could bring a dish after all. They offered commiserations and their shower.

Finally, a little frayed at the nerves and starting to consider a toilet schedule for everyone, I suggested we skip town and go to the beach for a few days, but that only got me a lecture for being a baby.

Once I stopped sulking, however, I had to concede the point. My husband had been to rural communities near the coast last October as a news photographer after the very destructive Hurricane Matthew had dumped millions of gallons of water into local rivers.

In towns such as Lumberton and Princeville, he saw homes that were submerged and people without power or clean water.

Seen from that perspective, I shut up and stopped whining.

I also thought a lot about Flint, that town in Michigan which had been supplied with toxic lead- contaminated water from a polluted river for two years because the state wanted to save money.

I gained a new appreciation for the people who work to supply our precious utilities.

Without those, we'd be spending most of our time looking for water or making fire, like many still do in less developed parts of the world.

In response to the break, the water authority asked other counties for help, while local businesses set up distribution points to give out bottled water to those who needed it.

The water in our taps was deemed safe to use at around 2pm on Saturday. In the end, I did bring a dish to my friends' party and we had showers beforehand.

When the dust had settled, businesses had lost several million dollars from the 24-hour shutdown and some home owners had damage to their properties due to flooding from the broken main.

Everything in our household went back to normal - a pity, in a way.

Though we had been given a glimpse of how quickly deprivation can turn to hardship and then crisis, habits die hard, even if one's intentions are good and the conscience is pricked.

It's not even because water is that cheap.

A household in Chapel Hill using 4,000 gallons (about 15 cubic metres) of water each month pays US$70 (S$99), including fees. The average Singapore household uses 17.6 cubic metres and pays much less, even at the new higher price.

Right now, Singaporeans are engaged in a conversation about the future of water security for the country.

Tariffs must rise in order to pay for infrastructural investments as well as - interestingly - to send a signal about the preciousness of this scarce resource.

The fifth National Tap, said one expert, should be to reduce demand.

In its long-range water supply plan, the water authority for my town also points to careful water use by its customers as key to future generations having high quality water to use.

For those of us fortunate to live in functional societies, we take for granted that clean water flows out of a tap when we turn it on.

I wouldn't have it any other way, but the realisation of what a luxury that actually is, gave me pause for thought and should still.

 

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Yewheng

Yewheng

Twincharged

http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/give-hawker-centre-chope-culture-the-chop?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&xtor=CS1-10#link_time=1489992804

 

What the... This one also want government step in? Omg. If government step in, equal to waste resources to just to ensure no chopping of seats. Stupid right? Not everything little thing need government step in..

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Evillusion

Evillusion

Supersonic

Private condo Swimming pool how ah.... to fill up the Swimming pool gonna be pretty costly... maintenance price up Liao....

Then again if can stay in condo, sap sap water le...

No hard feelings ah condo dwellers...

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Aaronlkl

Aaronlkl

Supersonic

Private condo Swimming pool how ah.... to fill up the Swimming pool gonna be pretty costly... maintenance price up Liao....

Then again if can stay in condo, sap sap water le...

No hard feelings ah condo dwellers...

post-25667-0-05010700-1490079283_thumb.jpg

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Aaronlkl

Aaronlkl

Supersonic

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/43-singaporeans-polled-against-water-price-hike-reach

 

Just over half of S'poreans back Budget measures: Reach poll

 

 

SINGAPORE — A survey conducted by Government feedback unit Reach has found that just slightly more than half (52 per cent) of the respondents expressed overall support for this year’s Budget initiatives — believed to be among the lowest since Reach began conducting the annual post-Budget polls several years ago. 

 

The telephone survey also found that many disagreed with the 30-per-cent water tariff hike, Reach said in a press release on Wednesday (March 22). 

 

The poll was conducted from February 22 to March 3, and the randomly-selected sample of 1,111 citizens was weighted to be demographically representative of the national population in terms of gender, age and race. 

 

Among the findings, 43 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that “it (was) reasonable to increase water prices to fund the higher costs of water production and to encourage water conservation”. In comparison, 24 per cent said they were “neutral”, 32 per cent agreed or strongly agreed and 1 per cent were “unsure”. 

 

Reach also said that at its feedback booths, “many Singaporeans had initially shared their unhappiness on the increased water prices”. 

It added: “But after various agencies and political office-holders had explained the increase, more people at (the booths) at the end of February and March said that they supported the increase. They understood the rationale behind the move and accepted that water is vital to our country’s survival and that it should be priced properly.”

 

Still, Reach chairman Sam Tan said the unit will embark on more public education. 

 

In comparison, there was strong support for initiatives to help persons with disabilities, families in housing, and children’s education. For example, 72 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the increase in Central Provident Fund housing grant for couples buying their first resale flat would offer “significant support for young families”. An identical proportion felt the same about the Third Enabling Masterplan — a roadmap to build a more inclusive society where persons with disabilities are supported to realize their potential — would help those with disabilities to integrate better in the workforce and society. 

 

Asked if an increase in the number of infant-care places would “make Singapore a more conducive place to raise a family”, 66 per cent of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed.

 

Two-thirds of the respondents also either agreed or strongly agreed that training support offered under the SkillsFuture movement will create better employment opportunities for Singaporeans.

 

Despite the high levels of support for the social measures, overall support for the Budget measures was relatively low: 52 per cent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “Overall, I support the initiatives announced in the Budget.” More than a third (35 per cent) were neutral, while 11 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed. 

 

Reach did not reply to queries on whether this was the lowest level of support since it began conducting the polls. Nevertheless, earlier media reports showed that in 2010, 70 per cent of 800 Singaporeans surveyed expressed support for the Budget that year. The figure was about 60 per cent the following year. In 2012, the proportion spiked to 93 per cent while it was about two-thirds in 2013. 

Between 2014 and last year, the proportion hovered around 70 per cent. 

 

Members of Parliament interviewed by TODAY said the survey results mirror sentiments on the ground, especially concern about the water price hike among low-income Singaporeans. 

 

“Many Singaporeans are supportive of most of the measures in the Budget … but for some, the water price increase overshadows their support on other issues,” said Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah. Fellow Nee Soon MP Louis Ng said the low overall support reflects the population’s desire for their voices to be heard. “The survey results show that we need to improve on our communication of Budget measures and to get the public involved in the process of drafting the Budget statement,” he said. 

 

Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo added that the relatively low overall support is “not entirely unexpected” for a Budget that seeks to “position Singapore for the long term”. Faced with economic pressures, some Singaporeans may be looking out for more short-term support measures, he noted.

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Kangadrool

Kangadrool

Supersonic

That's the problem, 69% crossed out thinking it's the choice they didn't want. :XD:

 

Nice scenario but just a fantasy
We can't even get 31% of the whole country to tick a box together

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Yewheng

Yewheng

Twincharged
(edited)

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/water-price-hike-absolutely-necessary-should-been-explained-better-pm-lee

 

 

Water price hike ‘absolutely necessary’ but should been explained better: PM Lee

Explain earlier is actually good. If there is something that need to be changed and public picked it up and highlighted, they could change or reverse it before it is implemented. This is better then implement it already and there is no way to reverse the implementation that is just few wks or few months old. Edited by Yewheng
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Aaronlkl

Aaronlkl

Supersonic

Explain earlier is actually good. If there is something that need to be changed and public picked it up and highlighted, they could change or reverse it before it is implemented. This is better then implement it already and there is no way to reverse the implementation that is just few wks or few months old.

 

They sure can bro..

 

They are the King! [laugh]  [laugh] [laugh]  

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Yewheng

Yewheng

Twincharged

They sure can bro..

 

They are the King! [laugh][laugh] [laugh]

They can, but to reverse the policy implemented just few wks or few months only looks bad on them.

 

So most likely is if implemented, even if regret it, they still must say until very good or what.

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Vratenza

Vratenza

Supersonic

Let me guess... the press release will include some of these terms:

 

" ....policy rethink ....."

 

" .....new evidence suggests that....."

 

"......in respond to public feedback...."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"....peanuts...ponding....."  if they can squeeze it in..... :D

 

They sure can bro..

 

They are the King! [laugh]  [laugh] [laugh]  

 

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Angcheek

Angcheek

Hypersonic

Let me guess... the press release will include some of these terms:

 

" ....policy rethink ....."

 

" .....new evidence suggests that....."

 

"......in respond to public feedback...."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"....peanuts...ponding....." if they can squeeze it in..... :D

I think they will skip ponding .... in fear public will ask thrm collect water from such ponds
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Beehive3783

Beehive3783

Turbocharged

Smells like those many propaganda articles to make us swallow the 30% increase.

 

 


He should have kept his mouth shut instead of horse back cannon now.

 

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/water-price-hike-absolutely-necessary-should-been-explained-better-pm-lee

 

 

Water price hike ‘absolutely necessary’ but should been explained better: PM Lee

 

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Jamesc

Jamesc

Hypersonic

I know how to solve the lack of clean water problem

 

and at the same time stop the rising oceans problem.

 

Just build giant swimming pools in countries with big deserts

 

like in Arabia and North Africa and channel sea water to it.

 

Build a giant glass roof over the giant pools and the sun will

 

cause the water to evaporate. Collect the clean water for

 

drinking and as more sea water gets evaporated the oceans

 

will be lowered as we build more and more pools.

 

The deserts are very big right like miles and miles?

 

So if they build this, this will save the world from Water World.

 

And it was all my idea.  [thumbsup]

 

:D  

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