Speaker 1: On this episode of Parts per Billion, solving the country's
Speaker 1: water shortage problems with the power of plumbing. The interesting
Speaker 1: intersection of water affordability and water conservation mehow, and welcome
Speaker 1: to yet another episode of Parts per Billion, the podcast
Speaker 1: from Bloomberg Environment. I'm your host, David Schultz, and this
Speaker 1: is a very special episode of Parts Rebellion because I'm
Speaker 1: coming to you from Breezy and Dusty Tucson, Arizona, the
Speaker 1: side of a conference on sustainable water management. So the
Speaker 1: word sustainable means different things to different people. For a
Speaker 1: lot or maybe most people, something is sustainable when it
Speaker 1: doesn't ruin the environment, But others think of sustainability in
Speaker 1: financial terms. Something is sustainable if I can continue paying
Speaker 1: for it without going broke. The water utility in the
Speaker 1: city of San Antonio has an interesting sustainability program that
Speaker 1: actually gets it of these definitions of the word. The
Speaker 1: program is called Plumbers to People and it provides free
Speaker 1: plumbing services to low income homeowners. That's right, the water
Speaker 1: utility will send a plumber out to your house for free.
Speaker 1: So what does the utility get this Well, water is
Speaker 1: not exactly abundant in San Antonio, so every leaky toilet
Speaker 1: or shower that gets fixed is less water that the
Speaker 1: utility doesn't have to provide. I spoke to Karen Guzz,
Speaker 1: head of conservation with the San Antonio Water System, to
Speaker 1: find out more about plumbers to people and about the
Speaker 1: overlap between water affordability and water conservation. Unfortunately, in San
Speaker 1: Antonio we have some families that are suffering economically. There
Speaker 1: are federal guidelines that we have offices in the city
Speaker 1: that qualify people at one hundred and twenty five percent
Speaker 1: of poverty for various services and programs. When people qualify
Speaker 1: and they own and live in a home, then they
Speaker 1: qualify for free plumbing repairs that reduce their water bill.
Speaker 1: Why did San Antonio start this program? What problem did
Speaker 1: you guys realize and we're trying to solve. Well, it
Speaker 1: was the first conservation program that San Antonio did over
Speaker 1: twenty years ago. We've got a twenty year history of
Speaker 1: working to reduce our per capita consumption and that program
Speaker 1: came about out of awareness that we have very socioeconomically
Speaker 1: diverse community. San Antonio Water System wanted to take care
Speaker 1: of the people who needed help the most first, so
Speaker 1: that program went out ahead of any other ones that
Speaker 1: we launched to help other customers save water. One of
Speaker 1: the things that I thought was really notable when you
Speaker 1: were talking about this is that it seems like it's
Speaker 1: a win win win for everyone because the person whose
Speaker 1: homes they get free plumbing, their water bill is reduced.
Speaker 1: And also San Antonio, the city that you work for,
Speaker 1: has to supply less water because of in Texas and
Speaker 1: especially in San Antonio, water is not abundant. Is that
Speaker 1: the way that the city sees it is that this
Speaker 1: is just there's very little downside to this. There isn't
Speaker 1: much of a downside. You're right, and water conservation is
Speaker 1: the biggest water supply project that San Antonio has ever accomplished.
Speaker 1: If we still used water today the way we did
Speaker 1: twenty years ago, we would need a trillion gallons more
Speaker 1: every year to meet our community needs. So as long
Speaker 1: as we can come up with a reasonably cost effective
Speaker 1: way to save water, like plumbers to people, then that's
Speaker 1: a good bargain for the whole community. Tell me about
Speaker 1: how you guys identify people who are really good fits
Speaker 1: for this program. Do you figure out who's using the
Speaker 1: most water or do you just try to spread the
Speaker 1: net as far and wide as possible. Really, it's networking
Speaker 1: in the community because people who are struggling economically don't
Speaker 1: use a lot of water and they may even turn
Speaker 1: off the water at the meter if they know they
Speaker 1: have a leak, and that's not a great way to live.
Speaker 1: But so we can't just go by a eyebill, so
Speaker 1: we try to network with other organizations that are helping
Speaker 1: people in need. That can be churches that can beat
Speaker 1: the food bank and other social service ages who are
Speaker 1: going to be aware of who it is may need
Speaker 1: our help, as well as the city offices where people
Speaker 1: get qualified. Where does the funding come from for this?
Speaker 1: Is this donated from charities? Is it tax revenue? Where
Speaker 1: does the money come from? We do have a donation
Speaker 1: fund called Project Agua, but that's not where the money
Speaker 1: comes from for Plumbers to People. Because Plumbers to People
Speaker 1: is a conservation program. We have dedicated revenue that are
Speaker 1: in our reach structure. We have these tiers, and the
Speaker 1: biggest tier is for use over twenty thousand gallons a
Speaker 1: month and for water that is charged at that highest price.
Speaker 1: A small portion of what is charged goes into a
Speaker 1: restricted fund, and all of the residential conservation program. Budgeting
Speaker 1: comes from that fund. That's interesting that you mentioned it's
Speaker 1: a conservation program that San Antonio doesn't see this as
Speaker 1: a welfare program or a charitable program. This is a
Speaker 1: conservation program. What's nice that it's both is honestly how
Speaker 1: we see it. We listed under our suite of programs
Speaker 1: that we call Uplift, so we have billing discounts, we
Speaker 1: have opportunities to pay on a different schedule. We have
Speaker 1: a whole suite of things that help people who are
Speaker 1: in need, and we're proud to list plumbers to people there.
Speaker 1: But the Conservation Department runs this one because it helps
Speaker 1: save water. What are some of the challenges to implementing
Speaker 1: this program. I imagine that any program that involves sending
Speaker 1: someone onto private property that always is tricky. Can you
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that. Yeah, it's administratively a
Speaker 1: complicated program. We've been doing it for a long time. Though.
Speaker 1: We have a plumber under contract with a pretty strict
Speaker 1: set of guidelines for they have to be vetted to
Speaker 1: make sure they're okay to go in our customers' homes.
Speaker 1: Of course in terms of prices, and the customer knows
Speaker 1: they're coming, they have a time certain appointment. They know
Speaker 1: exactly who the plumber is and what time to expect
Speaker 1: them as a security measure. So those are just a
Speaker 1: few other basics. And then we have to be certain
Speaker 1: that we are working with a customer who is a
Speaker 1: in poverty, has been qualified. It's not a rental property.
Speaker 1: It's somebody in poverty and they live in the house.
Speaker 1: That's the intent of the program. So you're not repairing
Speaker 1: you know, the plumber or the fixtures at that are
Speaker 1: owned by a landlord. You're preparing the fixtures that are
Speaker 1: owned by the homeowner. Correct, And so that is a
Speaker 1: limitation of the program. Is that what makes sense? Yes,
Speaker 1: and so landlords really should be fixing their own property
Speaker 1: that they're renting out. And so this is that is
Speaker 1: one of the limits. And there are people think we'll
Speaker 1: do people in poverty own their own homes. Yes, they do.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the family home has been in the home in
Speaker 1: the family for generations, or they are seniors and now
Speaker 1: they're fallen on hard times and they still have that house.
Speaker 1: So finally I wanted to expand this a little bit.
Speaker 1: We're talking about plumbers to people, but you know, low
Speaker 1: income was supplying water to low income households is a
Speaker 1: big problem across the country, in some communities more than others,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to get a sense of is this
Speaker 1: a solution that could work anywhere and what are some
Speaker 1: other ways that this could be targeted to deal with
Speaker 1: this problem, Because if a homeowner can't pay their water bill,
Speaker 1: that's bad for the homeowner, of course, but it's also
Speaker 1: bad for the city and bad for the water utility
Speaker 1: in particular. Is this something that could be broadened out?
Speaker 1: We think so. We think this is a program that
Speaker 1: other utilities are probably going to start looking to in
Speaker 1: the future. Water prices are going up for very good reasons.
Speaker 1: We need to improve our water infrastructure in this country,
Speaker 1: both the water and the sewer infrastructure. And for most
Speaker 1: of us, the cost of that is not going to
Speaker 1: be a big deal, probably less than two percent of
Speaker 1: our income, and so for something so valuable, that's all right.
Speaker 1: But for households that are in poverty, every increase is
Speaker 1: a much bigger chunk of their very limited discretionary income
Speaker 1: to pay another bill. Water's getting more expensive, and then
Speaker 1: who who pays for that? I guess that's the question. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And for most of our customers. We have a conversation
Speaker 1: with them about what is the value of water? What
Speaker 1: are you getting when you turn on your faucet at
Speaker 1: twenty four seven and you know you can drink that water?
Speaker 1: And wastewater is an environmental service to the community. Most
Speaker 1: people get that, they value it, they can accept a
Speaker 1: reasonable price increase when it has to come along, and
Speaker 1: so that's there's kind of two issues. One is talking
Speaker 1: to people about the value of water, and then part
Speaker 1: of that same value of water conversation is nobody should
Speaker 1: do without it and what do we do to make
Speaker 1: sure that that very valuable life giving product that everybody
Speaker 1: needs to have a reasonable life in the United States
Speaker 1: remains in place, even for people struggling. That was Karen Gudz,
Speaker 1: head of conservation with the San Antonio Water System, talking
Speaker 1: from the American Waterworks Association Sustainable Water Management Conference in Tucson, Arizona.
Speaker 1: For more of our reporting on water issues, visit our
Speaker 1: website at newsdop Bloomberg Environment dot com. That website, once
Speaker 1: again is Newstop Bloomberg Environment dot com and if you
Speaker 1: want to reach out to us on social media, don't
Speaker 1: forget to use the hashtag parts per b today's episode
Speaker 1: of Press Pavilion with produced by myself and Just Coombs.
Speaker 1: Our editor is Marissa Horne, and our audio engineer is
Speaker 1: Nicholas and Zelada. The music for this episode of Parts
Speaker 1: Pavilion is a message by Jizarre. Thanks for listening.