Sometimes progress is visible in what you don’t see

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of speaking to the annual conference of the California Water Association, an organization of that state’s investor-owned water utility companies. The theme of the day was affordability. The California Public Utilities Commission and State Water Resources Control Board are working hard to craft rules and guidelines for affordability in the Golden State, with clear implications for the state’s utilities.

During the conference several speakers took to the stage to talk about efforts underway in California to ensure affordability as communities grapple with water infrastructure and supply costs. We heard from utility managers, state agency bureaucrats, and state legislators. These were not dilettantes or casual observers; these were experienced people well-versed in water policy, and I heard lots of exciting things about steps and directions the state and its utilities are taking.

But one of the most exciting things about the conference was something I didn’t hear and didn’t see. In an all-day meeting on the subject of water affordability, nobody mentioned average-bill-as-percent-of-median-household-income.

Indeed, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I was the first to mention the %MHI standard when I launched into my familiar attack on that miserable metric. I’ve been excoriating that metric in rooms full of water folks since 2006.

I can do it in my sleep. But the attack wasn’t necessary in that room on that day. The audience was receptive to more careful measurement and analysis—even if the results weren’t pretty or comfortable.

Good policy requires good measurement. In the case of water affordability, good measurement begins with abandoning bad measurement. The California water community has apparently taken that first step; maybe it’s a sign that the rest of the nation is ready to follow. The quiet disappearance of a number from conversation might seem like the smallest of small victories, but policy revolutions begin with such changes in analytical frameworks.