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TomG

May 31, 2004, 11:00 AM

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Who pays their water bills?

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But the biggest challenge lies in fostering a culture of payment among users, some 40 percent of whom either never receive water bills or simply refuse to pay them.

http://www.reuters.com/...html?storyID=5295221

The Rueters article on water in el DF ends speaking of a question I brought up 4 months ago. I knew when a friend told me his water bill was not paid for 2 years that I had found something important. Why was his water not cut off? How many others don't pay their bills? (That was a dumb question; I knew instinctively it was a big bite of society.) If a significant chunk of society was not paying the bills and not being cut off, Why? Why would the government not cut them off? There is an easy answer down in the zocalo in Oaxaca every day - social unrest (except during the major tourists' holidays when the state police cleaned out the protesters and painted over the graffiti).

Is chaos the social equivalent of the economic law of supply and demand; and, as such, a sophisticated theory? Things seeking their own level with the invisible hand, so to speak, guiding? That makes it sound almost religious. It’s a mystery.

Life in the raw is more exciting. It’s the buzz one gets being close to danger without getting hurt.

NEOhio

May 31, 2004, 11:10 AM

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Re: [TomG] Who pays their water bills?

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I always enjoy reading your posts. Thanks for the brain food. Best, Anita

Esteban

May 31, 2004, 11:42 AM

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Re: [TomG] Who pays their water bills?

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In Mazatlan, they will shut your water off. Then you have to get it turned on with a special order that includes a fee and paying of the past due account. However, there are many people who don't pay. There may be some law against shutting off the water to people who many not be able to pay. A homeless guy in Arizona asked me if I thought that every human being had a right to enough water to survive? I'm not sure what is law or what is policy when it comes to water delivery. There are some folks with no meter and others that tag their line off someone elses before it goes to the meter or tag onto one without a meter. There are poorer colonias that may be stealing water but the public cost of health issues could be a lot if they weren't allowed to live with water. The water bill is so inexpensive (37 pesos a month in Mazatlan) no one seems to worry about those folks who are not paying. But then again, there are those times when the water doesn't make it up to the tinaco and you know the infrastructure is failing including needed maintenance; that's when you wonder what lies ahead.

(This post was edited by Esteban on May 31, 2004, 1:53 PM)

Carron

May 31, 2004, 3:25 PM

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Re: [TomG] Who pays their water bills?

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First, there are many places in Mexico where water is not a city service. Drinking water is purchased in 5-gallon plastic garrafones and water for other household uses comes from either nearby sources or can be purchased from tank trucks which pump from rivers and deliver to individual cisternas. Not everyone has cisternas.

There are no municipal rules in many places, as there are in US cities, that each residence has to be hooked into the local system. Thus it is easy to opt out and make do with less formal systems.

Traditional village wells are still going strong in some areas.

When we moved into a rental house here in Acuña, the water bill was in the name of the landlady. (Often in Mexico the bills for utilities are in the name of someone who owns, or has lived in, the house in the historical past. It is not necessary to change the name to continue service. All it takes is to pay the next month's bill after you move in.) The bills are stuck in the fence or slid under the door each month. You simply pay when it arrives and it doesn't matter who initiated the service. This means no deposits and no wait for service.

Unfortunately, the previous tenants, who had finally been evicted after a long and tedious legal process, had never paid the water bill. It was past due by two years or so. The landlady said if I would give her the bill when it came in, she would pay the past due so that I would only have to pay each current month. Well, she was broke and the bill kept mounting. I wasn't going to pay around $300 for previous tenant's water use and the water company would not let me just pay my current bill.

After about 6 months, the water company came out to shut off service. While my daughter hopped in the car to go get our landlady, the men helped me fill numerous 5-gallon buckets before they actually did the dirty deed. When my landlady arrived she made some sort of arrangements with them and promised to pay the past due. She did, because the following month my bill was only for the past 30 days. The account had been delinquent for more than 2 years 6 months!

WAter service for our house runs less than $10 US a month and there is also a water cleaning charge of around $1.50. Lots less than we ever paid in Texas.

alex .

Jun 5, 2004, 12:51 PM

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Re: [TomG] Municipal H2O in Tijuana

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We have a community mailbox that services 20 units, so when I go to get my water bill I have to sort thru evryone else's. Just this last saturday I noticed there is one unit that is 45 months arrears and another 55 months. The water is still on.
Alex

Lavanda

Jun 19, 2004, 9:54 AM

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Re: pays the water bills?

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Carron stated: (Often in Mexico the bills for utilities are in the name of someone who owns, or has lived in, the house in the historical past. It is not necessary to change the name to continue service. )

Such is the case at our family home. The bill remains in the name of my grandmother in law QEPD, who died about forty years ago.... The reason for this is that by changing the name ont he account, a depositi would be required in modern Mexico pesos.

Sin duda, to a norteamericano it would still seem like a
pittance, but to someone living on Mexican currency, it is still a notable amount.

And water does occasionally go off, interntionally or not &whether the bill is current or not, in some parts of Mexico.

Yet anothr part of Mexico's charm. I am a personl witness to the fact that the water goes off a few hours every day at
peak times in the Central de Autobuses in Moneterrey.

Fun huh?

Love, missed ya'll, Lavanda