Use well water ? Pay us or get fined ?

[theamericans075]

Hey at least you have access to well water, that's one up on palestinians!

 

[HannibalX]

if you live within the city districts and have a well, you are probably using the city's underground water supplies

So how far down does the land you own go? 10 feet? 5 feet? A foot? What claim does anyone else have to natural resources which inhabit your privately owned land?

 

[nickbits]

if you live within the city districts and have a well, you are probably using the city's underground water supplies

I drink your milkshake!

 

[Oric]

So how far down does the land you own go? 10 feet? 5 feet? A foot? What claim does anyone else have to natural resources which inhabit your privately owned land?

I understand property rights are more on the owner's side in the US, here on the old continent you don't own any natural resource. Especially if you are with in a municipality district they hook up a water meter to the well pump. The logic is simple, if you are so near the city so that the municipality can bring you water, you are also dipping into underground water which belongs to all citizens of tat town/city. If they let you use it for free then no one will buy the piped water and deplete the underground water reservoirs quickly.

 

[HumblePie]

So how far down does the land you own go? 10 feet? 5 feet? A foot? What claim does anyone else have to natural resources which inhabit your privately owned land?

All the way to China! And I want Dim Sum Foo off my land now!

 

[HannibalX]

I understand property rights are more on the owner's side in the US, here on the old continent you don't own any natural resource. Especially if you are with in a municipality district they hook up a water meter to the well pump. The logic is simple, if you are so near the city so that the municipality can bring you water, you are also dipping into underground water which belongs to all citizens of tat town/city. If they let you use it for free then no one will buy the piped water and deplete the underground water reservoirs quickly.

Well, it must be nice then having the city cut you a check every month for services rendered, I mean, if the water belongs to everyone certainly everyone should be paid for it then, right?

 

[Oric]

Well, it must be nice then having the city cut you a check every month for services rendered, I mean, if the water belongs to everyone certainly everyone should be paid for it then, right?

if you "sell" that water to the system you may get paid, just like electricity ... But you have to treat the well water, which is bit of an expensive stuff.

My opinion, if water is an abudant resource in the area, no one cares about it so much and it is absurd to pay for a well in your property. But in a metropolis or a scarce water area such draconian economic measures are understandable. There are a lot of examples of abuse of the underground water reserves if not checked and metered.

 

[djmartins]

you voted for the parasites that do this and other things to you. elections have consequences.

More blame the victim BS.
This is EXACTLY like saying a woman who was killed by her husband is at fault because she married him.

NO MORE EXCUSES FOR POLITICIANS.

 

[Vette73]

So how far down does the land you own go? 10 feet? 5 feet? A foot? What claim does anyone else have to natural resources which inhabit your privately owned land?

Most areas land deeds are very strict that you don;t own mineral rights and other stuff. I can;t remember but maybe someone here can explain it better.

 

[Hacp]

Next thing you know, they'll charge you when you try to collect rain-water to drink.

 

[brandonb]

This reminds me of the guy from Ruby Ridge. He made some comment about "Most people are sheep, and if the government told you to pay $10 a year for a walking permit, most people would go down and pay it."

Unfortunately for that dude, his wife and boy got shot by the government for "resisting" them.

 

[Fern]

According to City Manager Larry Dillon, the small fee will help pay for emergency services such as police officers and fire fighters. Because of an old city ordinance, rural residents with in 100-yards of a water line didn't have to pay for those services; but because of a struggling economy, every dollar counts.

If local residents don't want to pay the fee they'll have to connect to the water line.

"I know nobody likes to pay extra bills, but it's a reality of life and you have to pay your way because there is no free ride anywhere," said Dillon.

Aside from the obvious problem of making people for a service (water) they don't use, I see another one of those things that angers me.

The bill for water/sewer should pay for water/sewer. Instead, this city government is diverting fees from water/sewer over to police & fire fighters. Regular real estate taxes should be the source of funding for police etc.

This is one of those things I have complained about for a long time. Charge for services etc appropriately, and use the money where it's supposed to be spent and BS like this won't happen. When water/sewer money is spent on police etc you'll invariably have instances where one group of taxpayers is subsidizing another and it's not fair.

It looks to me like the group with wells has been having those with city water subsizide police & fire fighters for them. Real Estate taxes should have been increased to pay for police etc, and the 'extra' money collected for water/sewer should be set aside for the inevitable repairs/maintance/upgrades to the water/sewer system.

Fern

 

[waggy]

Next thing you know, they'll charge you when you try to collect rain-water to drink.

that is already against the law (in some areas).

 

[piasabird]

This sounds like taxation without representation.

$17.00 is a lot cheaper than paying for the waterline to be laid.

Get the waterline

dig a 48" trench

Get the City to attach your waterline to the supply line

City has to pay some over paid slug to actually put a valve on some location to attach your waterline to the City Water.

Still need to have a fitting on your pipe for incoming water.

Need a shut off and backflow valve to hook up to a city water source.

You think that they would at least think this out.

Maybe the mayor owns the local hardware store.

Dont forget you might have to dig up a road to lay the waterline.

You might also have to go through someone else's private property

 

[Bateluer]

Sounds like a load of crap to me, there'll probably some cleaning going on at election time in that town. Lots of cleaning going to happen at election time in a lot of places and levels.

 

[WHAMPOM]

easy fix. Just ask them to hook it up, cost a lot, and then just turn it off and hook your well back up.

From reading it just says you have to be hooked up, not use it.

And still pay the $17.00 fee. You don't get out of it(service fee).

 

[CLite]

A more robust article

http://www.news-star.com/news/x1664755104/McLoud-tells-water-customers-hook-up-or-pay-up

The city ordinance was specifically added in 1987 to pay for fire and police services. The city's only revenues is from utilities and sales tax. They decided in 1990 to grandfather in the well folks. However recently they discovered only 640 rooftops were paying the ordinance which covered police and fire service to 1,200 rooftops, this was an unfair burden to the 640 rooftops, because the other 600 rooftops were still receiving police and fire service.

Also another thing to note:

“The city uses wells from the same aquifers as these residents,” he said. “We’re required by law to test our water each week. By law, we must treat it with chlorine before it goes out. People who have their own wells don’t do that and they might be drinking contaminated water without knowing it.”

 

[Darwin333]

This to me seems like extortion. If you need funds for emergency services then bill for it or tax it, but to tell someone who already uses something totally unrelated that you now want money for it because you are running out of money, that is just plain wrong. The way states are trying to get money is getting ridiculous. I wouldn't pay it if I lived there, they could take me to court.



http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-news-mcloud-water-issue-story,0,6953126.story?track=rss

$20 a day fine for not paying a $17 a month bill???? That is absurd and surely illegal for any private organization to do.

 

[Hacp]

that is already against the law (in some areas).

Hahah, wow. Maybe in a few decades, after the liberals have finished taxing everything they can think of, they'll start taxing you for breathing air. You know, because it helps pay for the cops and firefighters....

Plus, if you want to create your own air to breathe from water or minerals, they'll find a way to tax that as well.

 

[Hacp]

“The city uses wells from the same aquifers as these residents,” he said. “We’re required by law to test our water each week. By law, we must treat it with chlorine before it goes out. People who have their own wells don’t do that and they might be drinking contaminated water without knowing it.”

You'd think that people would know enough to boil their water before they drink it like they do in developing nations.. I guess Americans are to dumb to do that and need the government to babysit.

 

[monovillage]

Water rights are like mineral rights in that they are separate on most peoples deeds. Unless you actually own the water rights to your land, they are probably held by some other interest.

 

[Lemon law]

This thread ignores another factor. Asa a rural resident dependent on well water, my nearest city water line is some four miles away.

And a well and septic system is all well and fine in areas of low population density, but why is that I suspect, by the time city water lines ever get within a mile of me, my aquifer will be rather polluted and no longer safe to drink.

It really gets bad in Karst topography, where groundwater can move miles a day, people there are dying of various cancers like flies, still believing their well is still safe. While their neighbors dump all their trash down the nearest sinkhole. And sure enough, burp, the trash is gone and pools up in some other well miles away.

 

[wiretap]

^--I'd rather regularly test & drink my own well water than drink from what chemicals I know are added to my city water.

 

[Zorba]

This is not a "water" bill, it is a bill for services that would normally be included in your water bill. Such as emergency services, etc. I live in Oklahoma, my water bill includes emergency services, trash, meter reading, sewer, storm drainage system and water. Some politician back in the day was pandering and allowed people within the city to get out of these fees. This is part of living within a city.