Water Policy in the United States

In order to create my new webpage, The Best Place to Invest, I found the water and sewage rates for more than 100 cities in the United States, probably representing somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the country's population.  I know that water rates aren't something that keep most people up at night, but I find it quite fascinating how much they vary across the country.  Here are some observations:

1)  Houston wins the award for the most nonsensical, idiosyncratic water billing system in the country.  You pay about $3.50 for the first thousand gallons of water, $4.75 for the second thousand, $0 for the thousand gallons after that, then nearly $8.00 for the subsequent thousand dollars.  Crazy with a capital C. 

2)  For years now, I have read articles about how the American West is running out of water, how the Colorado River is being drained to feed Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.  Global warming is supposed to make this much worse.  Well, it turns out that one reason all the water is going away is that it is pretty cheap in the Southwest.  Water and sewage in Phoenix only costs a little more than the national average of $2.31 per CCF (1 CCF = 748 gallons), while rates in Peoria, Mesa (two big Phoenix suburbs) and Tucson is way below average. Water in Las Vegas is below average.  In much of central California (with the notable exception of San Francisco), water is cheap and sewage isn't metered, which leads to above-average use.  If the West starts running out of water, lowering the prices will help deal with this significantly, at least on the retail side of the equation (agriculture might be another story).

3)  Atlanta, Seattle, and San Francisco have some of the highest water/sewage rates in the country.  In Atlanta, the most expensive city I found, water/sewage costs nearly 3 times the national average.  The cheapest major city, Salt Lake City, runs under half the national average.

4)  Overall, water costs in the United States are incredibly low if you consider what you're paying for.  The average cost to acquire 748 gallons of water and dispose of it down the drain is $5.11 - less most McDonalds combo meals.