Plumberzki

  water meter During the 19th century, the relationship with water in cities was transformed: if pipes had been serving buildings for a very long time, it was the installation of networks of watertight pipes and taps that allowed the generalisation of the service, home. Then we were able to install water meters, which gradually detached water from its character as a public or common good (common pool resource). Water has thus become a domestic or industrial consumer good. This transformation is almost complete in Europe and other developed countries, but not quite: there are still places where the population still uses private wells, rainwater cisterns; it is sometimes grouped around small common supply systems where water is still paid for on a flat-rate basis. According to supposedly fair rules but unrelated to the volume consumed; in many cities in Europe and the eastern United States, there is only one meter per building. This is now being debated: some want each household to have