ISSUES

More on Perspective
We are polluting our river because our waste treatment plant does not have the capacity to handle the volume of our sewers and our storm water simultaneously. To address this issue, the Public Works department is expanding our waste treatment plant and planning the construction of giant holding tanks to catch the overflow during rain storms. To pay for this project, we have some of the highest sewer treatment charges in the nation. (Have a look at your water bill.)

On the other hand, we have come to realize that our aquifer is not an infinite resource. In 2006, water rates were finally amended to charge more for high water consumption, instead of less. Spokane recently adopted a Water Stewardship Program to educate citizens to conserve water. Still, the toilet is the most consumptive water appliance in our homes – and we are doing precious little to address this fact.

When we consider these issues together, it may make sense to do an analysis of how much water could be saved by retrofitting Spokane's homes and businesses with low-flush toilets. In a Los Angeles neighborhood 270,000 low-flush toilets were installed in three years. This project returned $4 million to the neighborhood in jobs, reduced water bills and saves 3.4 billion gallons of water every year. Might such a strategy be a more cost effective measure for Spokane? We won't know until we have elected officials who seek robust and inclusive analysis of the issues before us.

Another example: US citizens over the age of 20 have gained, on average, 24 pounds in the last 42 years. There is an obesity epidemic in our culture that is costing us dearly in health care expenses. Why is this occurring? One reason is that in 1952, 62% of all school children walked or biked to school. Now less than 2% do. As a society we have all but eliminated walking as a means of transportation. When was the last time you walked for a purpose other than leisure?

In the last 50 years our built environment has developed primarily to serve cars, not pedestrians. Now virtually all trips are made by automobile. We could not comfortably walk to most destinations even if we chose to. But we can choose to rebuild our urban infrastructure to accommodate vehicles, pedestrians and non-motorized traffic. Fortunately, we have a citizen-generated Comprehensive Plan that says this is exactly what we will do. But we are not following our plan. Instead, as we reconstruct our streets, we are putting them back virtually as they were. We are missing a golden opportunity to rebuild our city to support both our health and our mobility? My pledge is to keep the promise we made ourselves six years ago to make Spokane a healthier, more livable, more economically viable city.