The Cost of a Cheap Glass
Written by Studio AM.
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Tap water can cost very little per glass, yet supplying it requires an expensive network. A low price per unit does not mean that the service is cheap to maintain.
A water bill supports much more than the water entering a home. Treatment plants, pumps, storage tanks, and buried mains must be operated, checked, and eventually replaced. Some expenses, including pumping energy and treatment chemicals, rise with the volume supplied. Others are largely fixed in the short term. A utility that sells ten percent less water still has the same length of pipe to maintain.
This creates a difficult pricing problem. Conservation can reduce operating costs and pressure on limited supplies, but it does not remove the need to fund the network. Meanwhile, even a modest bill can be difficult for a household with very little income. Rates therefore have to balance reliable service with affordability, sometimes through targeted assistance.
Postponement is not a permanent solution. Delayed maintenance can allow small leaks to grow and increase the risk of costly failures. Evaluating a water price means asking two questions: can households afford the service now, and is enough being invested to keep that service reliable?
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What is the central argument?
The answer is D: Water prices must support a reliable network while remaining affordable.
The passage develops both requirements: funding the system over time and making the service affordable.
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Question 2 of 4
Why might a ten percent fall in water sales produce a smaller fall in costs?
The answer is A: The same pipe network still needs maintenance.
Some costs vary with supply, but maintaining the existing network remains necessary.
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Question 3 of 4
In this passage, costs that are "fixed" are costs that
The answer is C: stay much the same whether much or little water is sold
The contrast with energy and chemical costs shows that fixed costs change little with the volume supplied, at least in the short term.
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Question 4 of 4
What does the last paragraph suggest about delaying maintenance?
The answer is D: It can reduce spending now but lead to greater costs later.
A small leak can grow or contribute to a more expensive failure, so immediate savings may not last.
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