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<br />42 Estimating Economic Impacts of Salinity... <br /> <br />N <br />-.J <br />..... <br />c.o <br /> <br />households, multiplied by an extrapolation factor <br />to expand bousehold items to include similar <br />items in commercial buildings,29 The replace- <br />ment cost of the item is determined (in 1986 $), <br />then is divided by the number of years of useful <br />life at the given year's forecasted TDS level, to <br />obtain the annual salinity damages per item. <br />Since even at a very low salinity level, such as 200 <br />mgiL, there will be a limit to useful life, the <br />damages due to salinity at a higher salinity con- <br />centration will be the difference in cost between <br />two salinity levels, the forecasted level and the <br />selected baseline level(s). <br /> <br />Household Damage <br />Categories Unrelated to Useful <br />Life of Appliances <br /> <br />Not all household salinity damages are <br />functions of useful life. Others are functions of <br />annual cost per household for certain expendi- <br />tures that increase with higher salinity concentra- <br />tions. These are: <br /> <br />. Bottled water purchases <br /> <br />. Home water treatment systems (e.g., home <br />water softeners or "under~sinku ion ex- <br />change systems or home RO systems) <br /> <br />. Soaps and detergents <br /> <br />. Clothes replacement (i.e., from textile wear <br />caused by water hardness) <br /> <br />All four of these categories are subject to <br />caveats. Bottled water purchases are stimulated <br />in part by advertising, in part by unjustified fear <br />of pollution in public water supplies, and in part <br />by taste. Income level and purchasing power <br />also correlate with bottled water purchases. The <br />same factors influence expenditures on home <br />water treatment systems, with the added factor <br /> <br />that home water softening causes some deteriora- <br />tion of water taste (and increases corrosivity) <br />which in turn causes an increase in bottled water <br />purchases. <br /> <br />Water hardness causes increases in the <br />amount of soap and detergent used in a <br />household, and may reduce the useful life of tex- <br />liles. Income level and personal preference are <br />probably primary factors in the premature <br />replacement of clothing because of fashion con- <br />siderations rather than wear. Nevertheless, hard- <br />ness and salinity, particularly in the Colorado <br />River, are closely related so that an increase in <br />one usually accompanies an increase in the <br />other. The authors have determined from secon- <br />dary sources what the annual expenditures per <br />household are for these four categories, and <br />what percentage of households make such expen- <br />ditures, at various TDS levels. All costs have <br />been indexed to 1986 dollars. The damages, as <br />before, are the difference in annual expenditures <br />per household at two levels of salinity (the <br />forecasted level and the selected baseline <br />level(s), multiplied by the number of households <br />making those expenditures, multiplied by an ex- <br />trapolation factor to account for similar expendi- <br />tures made outside households, e.g., water <br />treatment systems in commercial buildings, bot- <br />tled water purchases by hotels and restaurants, <br />extra use of soaps and detergents by commercial <br />laundries, and extra damages to hospital and <br />hotel linens. (Damages from commercially <br />laundered textiles, in particular, also can result <br />from the very hot water and strong detergents <br />used). <br /> <br />Salinity Damages to <br />Automotive Cooling Systems <br /> <br />A final category of household salinity <br />damage is that of damage to automotive cooling <br />systems, particularly radiators, from saline water <br /> <br />29The extrapolation factor calculated for use in the computer program is 53.1 percent, and is based on the relationship be- <br />tween the volumes of water distributed to commercial customers and to residential customers of the City of San Diego Water <br />Utilities, as reported in its F'i~AI19AA AnnUAl FinAn...iAI R~port p.28. These volumes were 2,784 million cubic feet (commer~ <br />cial) and 5,243 million cubic fect (residential). Water distributed to industrial customers was ignored, because the proportion <br />of industrial water used in bathrooms, etc., is assumed to be negligible. The San Diego data did not indicate if, or where, <br />water sales to public authorities are reported. A similar calculation of commercial and residential water use in Denver from p. <br />64 of the Denver Water Department's 1qRlIj Annual Rr!port indicated an extrapolation factor of 51.0 percent. The Denver cal- <br />culations did not include water used by public authorities (e.g., schools, government offices, street washing, etc.) which repre- <br />sents 15.9 percent of residential use, and therefore they understate non-residential damages. <br />