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This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers

Friday, January 25, 2008

Hasty Water Policy Needs Second Look

By

    The Albuquerque metro area needs every good idea it can get on water conservation. For more than a decade, therefore, policy makers have kept the door open to conservationists, engineers, home builders, consumer advocates— anyone with a promising idea to give this desert city a sustainable future.
    In the process, water use has been slashed. The entire look of the city has changed, from a green echo of the Midwest to a water-wise landscape with its own identity, rooted in the desert.
    A week ago, that process faltered. The door slammed shut on new ideas when four members of an appointed governmental body took it upon themselves to declare a very detailed, final solution. In new houses and apartments, toilets will flush no more than 1.2 gallons, the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority board decreed. New houses will have gutters sufficient to capture 85 percent of roof runoff in rain barrels— or cisterns for houses bigger than 2,400-square-feet. Commercial construction will include cisterns and pumps.
    Many people felt the water authority's 4-2 vote was high-handed, given that the board is not directly accountable to voters and held very little public discussion.
    But now it turns out the authority's cost estimates were way off, according to builders, meaning its unilateral policy could result in crushing expenses for home buyers and businesses.
    Where the authority estimated about $500 in added costs for houses under 2,400 square feet, home builders see roughly $4,000. For larger houses the water authority estimated additional costs of $3,000 to $5,000. Builders say $15,000 is more like it.
    Commercial construction would be harder hit. A 100,000-gallon cistern with a pump system and other requirements could add $200,000 to a project's cost.
    The door to good ideas, and accurate cost estimates, needs to be pried back open. In the month between introducing the new conservation policy and approving it, the water authority never invited discussion from builders or property owners.
    The authority's board should rescind its vote and forward its ideas to the City Council and County Commission, where public policy can be hammered out in a more democratic process.