The Cost of Water

Every month or so I get a copy of National Geographic stuffed into my mailbox. It is a great read, once I free it from its metal prison. This month’s issue(April 2010)  focuses on WATER and on pg. 114, had an interesting map.

It seems that good ole Ulsan has one of the highest cost of water in Korea! The study looked at the cost to a consumer by municipality per 100 gallons. The study showed various cities around the world and the water prices within them. Here are some of the cities that caught my eye.

Ulsan $0.30

Seoul $0.22

Tokyo $0.74

Sydney $1.61

Melbourne $1.36

Johannesburg $0.18

Cape Town $0.42

Newcastle $1.46

Glasgow $2.50

Cork $0.00

Ottawa $0.87

Vancouver $0.64

New York $0.80

San Diego $1.65

Fort Worth $0.88

It is an interesting map. The details as to why there are variations in cost, are extremely complex. Sometimes the higher water prices mean that the utility company can pump water to all areas within that city, including slums. Other times the cost is too low, in a hope of providing the poorer areas with water. These are the companies that continually go broke.

I encourage you to give this a read. Make a note, that a yearly subscription to National Geographic is cheaper than 2 magazines bought anywhere in Korea. Just head over to their website and check out the prices.