With our water shortage, why are we building more hotels? (Austin: residential, car wash)

[RooCeleste]

Car washes is what I wonder about....they're going up on just about every corner in Cedar Park and Round Rock.

[CptnRn]

Car washes are usually more efficient in water usage then washing the car at home in your driveway. Austin restricted washing at home while allowing commercial car washes to continue for this reason.

Tourism bring millions of dollars into the local economy, so hotels are not likely to be restricted and there already are building codes in place that require they use high efficiency fixtures. In addition, total water consumption in Austin has gone down the last several years, so I don't see the logic in overly restrictive building regulations targeting hotels. We could save far more by eliminating St. Augustine grass.

Water usage in the Colorado watershed has decreased significantly now that the rice farmers have been cut off. And good news, the water level in Lake Travis has increased this spring, more so than the previous two years.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by scm53

Stop this senseless waste of water! With our lakes drying up, why are we adding demand on the supply?

Should play well here in the capital of statism. Surprised no college here thought of this as a grant subject.

Considering your ironic "Location" (I never heard any Austinite describe their city this way) I would have thought you would have been pro-free market and anti-Malthusian.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by RooCeleste

Car washes is what I wonder about....they're going up on just about every corner in Cedar Park and Round Rock.

No kidding - on 620 from RR High School west to its junction with 45, there are two major car washes that have been in operation for several years and two more under construction. Plus there is a middling size car wash on Great Oaks in Brushy Creek.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

I never heard any Austinite describe their city this way.

Speaks oceans about the crowd you hang out with. Little self selection going on there?

As far as your other point, guess your web browser doesn't read the sarcasm font.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by scm53

Speaks oceans about the crowd you hang out with. Little self selection going on there?

As far as your other point, guess your web browser doesn't read the sarcasm font.

What I was saying is that given the irony/sarcasm of "People's Republic of Austin" your rant at the beginning of this thread makes you look inconsistent at best, and hypocritical at worst.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Yes, there is - the water they use appears to cost about $6.00 to $6.50 per 1,000 gallons. Reducing water use saves them money, especially in new construction.

As it does for any user - residential or commercial. But if water shortages justify tiered rates to incentivize desired behaviors among residential users, then why not tiered rates for commercial users -- like hotels -- as well? This would be easy to do. Tell a hotel they get X amount of water for every room, each month. X amount for the square footage of restaurants and bars. Then start tiering the overage just like residential users. Maybe they would decide this app is one solution. Maybe they wouldn't wash your towels every day, even if you throw them on the floor. There are all kinds of ideas I am sure they could discover -- if incentivized to do so. Right now, they aren't.

The water supply issue either is a problem, or it isn't. If it is, then all types of users need to be incentivized for maximum efficiency. Unless the tiered residential rates aren't really about maximizing the allocation of a scarce resource ...

[scm53]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

What I was saying is that given the irony/sarcasm of "People's Republic of Austin" your rant at the beginning of this thread makes you look inconsistent at best, and hypocritical at worst.

You need to read some Swift. Especially before making a breathless hyperbolic accusation like that.

[RunninJT]

Originally Posted by mm57553

The COA has a history of becoming a lot less concerned with the environment when there is money to be made.

There was a time, long ago, when you could bring this city to a halt over a salamander.


These days I think they would wipe out every last crawling critter in the city if they could put up another Condo. Heartbreaking for an old local.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by RunninJT

There was a time, long ago, when you could bring this city to a halt over a salamander.


These days I think they would wipe out every last crawling critter in the city if they could put up another Condo. Heartbreaking for an old local.

You can still bring the city to a halt over a salamander, if it involves something like building or improving a road. But apparently those projects that generate revenue for the city don't disturb the salamanders as much.