Government water police state almost here

(NaturalNews) Anyone who says that liberty, freedom and individualism has thrived under the Obama administration has either been living in a cave or is far too partisan to acknowledge what's really been going on.

The Obamaites have long used the power of the federal bureaucracy that the president controls to limit, not enhance, personal freedoms and liberty with a bevy of rules and regulations aimed at imposing more government control. Obamacare is a major example, but at least that was accomplished legislatively; the more insidious work has been undertaken by various federal agencies that control different sectors of our society, economy and industry.

One of the federal departments most commonly utilized in this fashion is the Environmental Protection Agency, which is now, by the way, serving as the White House's Pretorian environmental guard and homegrown water police.

As reported by The Washington Free Beacon (WFB), the administration now has the EPA monitoring water usage in Boulder, Colorado:

The agency submitted a solicitation [June 18], announcing its plans to hire a contractor for the purpose of "Water Monitoring Equipment and Collection of Data" of apartments in the city.

'Boulder does a good job already but that doesn't matter'

"Region 8 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intends to issue a Request for Quotes (RFQ) for installation of water monitoring equipment," the solicitation (found here) said. "Once installed the contractor will integrate the equipment with existing software system that will monitor water usage in multi-family housing units. The work will be performed in Boulder, Colorado."

The agency said it expects to release a final solicitation for the project in late June, and once a contractor is selected, the monitoring will begin six months later.

But why? Why is the EPA inserting itself into water monitoring in Colorado or anywhere that isn't on federal land? After all, because Colorado's climate is susceptible to drought conditions, local officials in Boulder already monitor water use and set the yearly water supply status. In addition, the local government has the power to implement water use restrictions if need be.

However, as we have reported, the agency has shown an interest in water monitoring before; EPA officials have expressed a desire to monitor the amount of time that hotel guests shower, with plans to use the resultant data to "modify" the shower behavior of guests (presumably to get them to use less water).

For their part, EPA officials have presumed that Boulder needs the agency's help – even while admitting that Boulder officials really don't because they know what they're doing.

"The purpose of this project is to support the City of Boulder's efforts to help residents conserve resources in housing owned and managed by the city's public housing authority, Boulder Housing Partners," a spokeswoman for the EPA told the WFB. "The City of Boulder has been a leader in developing programs that engage and assist residents with voluntary measures to conserve energy and water in public housing. EPA's support will develop baseline data on water use in a multi-family public housing building and inform the city's efforts to help residents conserve water."

'Only a mandate will produce efficiency'

A similar excuse was given by the EPA for its shower-water-use study program.

"This technology will provide hotel guests with the ability to monitor their daily water online or using a smartphone app, and will assist hotel guest in modifying their behavior to help conserve water," the grant, which was filed under "Water conservation," "Urban water planning" and "Sustainable water management," said.

According to our earlier reporting, the EPA has discovered that hotel guests in the U.S. take showers lasting an average of eight minutes, in which 18 gallons of water are used – and the agency would like to see that reduced by one whole minute.

Usually, regulations follow such "voluntary" studies; that's what makes this entire process suspect.

The arrogant presumption on the part of this federal agency is stunning. It presumes that hoteliers have no interest in curbing the use of water that they must pay for (and, in turn, possibly charge guests for). It ignores the fact that business owners tend to always look for ways to save money so they can a) make a larger profit while b) keeping costs down for consumers.

No matter. For the Obama Administration, "efficiency" can only be mandated by the water police.

Sources:

http://freebeacon.com

http://www.fbo.gov

http://www.naturalnews.com