hard · GRE Verbal

A municipal water utility installed smart meters that transmit hourly usage data, expecting the detailed feedback to prompt households to conserve. In the year after installation, total residential water consumption in the district actually rose by 6%, even though a regional drought made water noticeably more expensive that same year. Which of the following, if true, does the most to resolve the apparent paradox? Task: Resolve the paradox.

1. The smart meters revealed to many households that longstanding hidden leaks in their plumbing were wasting water, and repairs were scheduled but not completed until after the year ended.
2. Households in a neighboring district that kept their old meters reduced consumption by 9% over the same year.
3. The utility's smart meters were more accurate than the old meters, which had systematically under-recorded each household's true consumption by a substantial margin.
4. Most households reported that they rarely logged in to view the hourly usage data made available by the new meters.
5. The price increase during the drought was smaller in percentage terms than price increases the district had absorbed in two previous droughts.

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