Sitting through a recent discussion about a town’s assessment of wastewater management options, I heard a lot about cost effectiveness of competing approaches. The adequacy of this approach is limited in a few ways, particularly the deference often given to the option that has the lowest first cost. Public sector managers often behave as if the overall life cycle cost of an option is not ultimately fully borne by the public and consumes any perceived short-term savings from the cheapest option. Another limitation is the failure to adequately value time and ignoring that living with degraded water quality is a cost to society and the environment.
Wastewater management options that have long phasing horizons, or rely on waiting until some new septic technological silver bullet emerges, force residents to live with degraded resources for longer. That time delay is almost never monetized and applied to the cost benefit analyses. Also ignored are the present costs of a degraded environment, let alone the implications of worsening conditions that inevitably accompany delayed action. Were either or both societal costs considered, different decisions would be made. The societal value of the speed and certainty of nutrient reduction that comes from collection and treatment would be differently considered if the delayed benefit of sole reliance on as yet approved or proven septic technologies were properly monetized and factored into decision making.
While the universe will be around a long time, our individual life spans are brief. Management plans that delay the start of implementation for a decade or more that then do not result in environmental improvement for years after that on the premise that its cheaper do us all a disservice. It is often said that time is money. In this case that is partly true, but I would suggest it is more valuable than money. Governments can print money. My time, yours too, is finite. I, for one, would like to enjoy a cleaner environment while I am alive rather than stuff a few fake savings in my pocket that I won’t ever be able to spend.
