Should water be considered a public good (not privatized)?
Privatized Water is Expensive!
the non-profit water advocacy group Food and Water Watch looked at average water rates charged by utilities in California, Illinois, Wisconsin, and New York, it found that private utilities charged consumers “significantly higher water rates” than public ones did—as much as 50 percent more. there is no effective competition to provide water in a given area (private water utilities are essentially local monopolies) there is no market incentive to cut costs.
Posted by: AnonymousWater is a basic human need, and it should be a public utility run by local government entities.
Water is necessary for survival. A private company might be tempted to raise prices, because they have a monopoly on the needed product. Privatization does not fit with monopolies. Government should run monopolies for the good of the public consumer.
Posted by: ddeathnoteWater Crisis: human right or commodity?
Water is a fundamenal human right, and not everyone has money to buy it. If they dont have the funds to buy the water then they will become unhealty and die. It should be a right because a billion people lack access to a basic water supply, and less than half of Africa live more than a 15 minute mwalk away from clean water.
Posted by: AnonymousWater is too important to be controlled by private interests.
Since water is vital for life and all human beings, as well as for the environment, this resource should be controlled in a democratic way in which everyone affected has a voice. If water were privatized, the people controlling the resources would not be acting in the public interest, and might not consider everyone's needs in resource allocation.
Posted by: BrokenMarvin34Privatization of water is a ridiculous idea.
Talk about great ways to eventually start a war or rebellion. Water is a resource that unlike many others, including oil, is one that is required for life. Luckily it is a very renewable resource, but privatization of anything can get a little dicey. If for some reason water became hard to come by, you would not want it in the hands of private groups.
Posted by: 5h035BowI do believe that water should be considered a public good, no one should own water it is for everyone to enjoy.
Water should not be a commodity, it should be available to all people. You should be able to dig a well if you wanted and get water. When private companies control a natural resource the basically control the people. Lets free up our resources and let people have the basic necessities that should be afforded to them. We shouldn't get to a point where we are begging for things like water. Or paying tons of money to have water.
Posted by: C0ImEIiteWater is everyones
Water is essential to everyone so if its privatized and we run out we could die. If water is taken away from us we could be in big trouble. I don't know what brought upon this argument but it needs to be solved to keep it from dying so that is why we need water.
Posted by: AnonymousYES YES YES!
Why would you privatize something so essential to, not only the human race but to plants and animals. It will be a messed up world the day we privatize water. This should not even be considered a question, only corrupt people would think of something so messed up like this. WE NEED TO RE-HUMANISE THE WORLD ASAP!
Posted by: AnonymousWater is essential to all life, and therefore should be a public good, not privatized.
Water is not only essential to human society and human life, but also all life on this planet. The privatization of this resource benefits those who capitalize on it in the short term, and harms not only all others who become consumers by limiting availability, but also the longer term needs of all earthly life.
Posted by: P03tPoIdYes, I agree that water should be considered a public good.
All essentials for the existence of life such as air and water cannot be made one's own property. Moreover they are available in abundance naturally and does not need anyone's effort or investment. They just need to be safeguarded from extreme human exploitation, hence water should not be privatized and must be considered as public good.
Posted by: SaroM0vi3Yes, because water needs to be controlled and protected for the public good, because it is the essence of life.
Where there is private/for-profit control of lakes and rivers, the owners are able to create dams that cut off or limit vital water flow to people living nearby.
Posted by: R0m4nticHammWater should be considered a public good because it belongs to all people.
If water is privatised, it will be controlled in the hands of few people. They might charge huge amounts of money for something that occurs naturally and is a basic right of each and every individual. So water should be considered as a public good.
Posted by: danoneenoWater should not be privatized, because allowing a few people to profit off such an important resource is obscenely unfair.
Water should not be privatized. If a few greedy people are allowed to monopolize the world's fresh water, it will cause widespread death and misery to those who are too poor to pay for it. There is only so much fresh water on the planet. And, it's not like the rich people of the world had any hand in creating that water, or maintaining it. No group of people should be allowed to profit off of such an important and limited resource.
Posted by: tagappsWe have to have it
We need water, the UN says we have a right to clean water - they force us to give money to a private company with no alternative. That's an illegal monopoly in my book. I would be happy to pay the same amount to the state of my country - not Dubai who own Thames water.
Posted by: AnonymousPrivate companies are just profit makers
Water service is a basic human right and not a business. Water will be best managed by a government which is answerable to the public and not by private companies. Also privatization will lead to even more corruption in the society.
Privatization is not the cure to corruption rather a cause for corruption.Posted by: AnonymousIt's vital for our life; to afford will not be healthy.
Water is vital for the lives of all humans, meaning we must have it for free. Another is that the water that we take in to help us has to be clean and purified and it is not all humans who are able to afford this clean and purified water. If all cannot afford it, this means that those who are not able to will either not be healthy or clean or might die of the lack of water in the body. Well, I think the government has to make it free so that all will be able to afford it and we can all live a good life. I hope you like my opinion and also hope the government likes this.
Posted by: AnonymousWater should be a public good, because it's safety and availability must be guaranteed.
If water is not a public good, then how will everyone be guaranteed clean and safe water? How will the cost, safety, and quantity of water be safely regulated? If public water was not considered a public good, and was all of a sudden privatized, how would we make sure that contaminates were removed, or at a safe level, before offered to their buyers?
Posted by: AmuckRory54Water is a necessity to survive; therefore, accessibility to water should not be difficult.
Essentials needed to survive should not be privatized. They should be protected from human mistreatment, but not closed off from public use. To give a monopoly on an item which is a necessity to survive to a small group of people could create a full out revolution. Naturally, it would be wrong to control a natural resource which should be available to everyone. We should never get to a point where we have to worry about where we will find water to survive.
Posted by: taintedhuesProfit Versus People
Just because you can collect and market a resource doesn't give you the right to allocate it at your own free will and for people to purchase it from you. With enough money, one could acquire all the rice in the world through private purchasing, then process it and sell it back to the population at a ridiculous mark-up. Americans may not notice much of a difference, but developing countries would most likely starve. You might think this is an exaggeration but water is even MORE free and common than rice. And nobody is buying WATER -- they're buying property and stealing a NECESSARY *natural resource* and then selling it back for 100% profit. THAT is absurd.
Posted by: AnonymousI agree that water is a public good; it is not something meant to be bought or sold.
Plants need water. Animals need water. People need water. We need water like we need air - it should be free, or at the very least, at cost. Nobody holds the right to charge others for water - nobody has the right to make a profit off of peoples' needs in order to live. It would be like charging people to breathe air.
Posted by: 54ndDaviWater should be available to everyone for free!
Water should be free to everyone! Water is something living things need to live and grow (plants, animals, and humans.) The greedy people who sell water for money should not be allowed! Water is like air, we need it. Take a poor family, in the future water will be used so much from the generation's, the price will go up, and poor family's may not be able to afford water, so they could die!
Posted by: AnonymousOF COURSE - no brainer this.
Gas, electricity, food, and water all essential for sustainable life. The exception here is WATER which is a NECESSITY not a luxury. Because we can control how much gas, electricity and food we consume and we pay an equal price for it. WATER is different and should always be FREE, as water is the most fundamental and natural resource we have which is in infinite supply, and we would die very fast without it, whereas we could get by without gas and electricity and processed food. We just grow and eat natural foods. Heating and gas are LUXURIES. Because we all rely on water to survive it should be FREE and PUBLIC. How dare someone make money from it its SICK. Id rather live next to a river and build my own water treatment machine than pay money to sick greedy private companies.
Posted by: AnonymousWATER SHOULD BE FREE!
I don't see any right of making water private. Water exists in nature, and should be available for everyone.
If water is privatized, this will give more profit and power to the companies that sell it. More power means more control. Companies already control enough aspects of our daily lives. Controlling the water supply as well, and distributing it as they see fit, it reduces our freedom even more. So, let's not make water private, because if it becomes private then -who knows?- maybe in the future they will privatize the air we breathe.Posted by: AnonymousWater is an essential resource for life and should not be limited by a corporation.
There are two reasons why water should not be limited. Firstly, it's a dangerous precedence because the corporation now has the ability to limit a vital resource to citizens, which in the worst case scenario could mean that it has the ability to choose whether a citizen lives or dies by providing water or not. Secondly, the water is sent through pipes that were originally created and maintained by municipal funds so a corporation shouldn't be able to use those for free.
Posted by: P3rEverModern industry is extremely powerful
As the state of art of technology of today, absolute, sustainable abundance should be the hallmark of our present civilization. Providing for every nutritional need, for every human being, is the least that can be expected from our society. Today techniques of water tapping, gathering and storage, vastly exceeds the demand from the general public of the world, as well as the capability to distribute it.
I can't believe there is still people, with enough stupidity and/or greed, that wishes water to be a luxury and not a human right.Posted by: AnonymousWater should be considered to be a public good because it is a necessity for all living beings.
I totally agree that that the water should be considered as public good and not privatized into the hands of few people. Water is the natural resource which is very necessary for all living beings. Making it privatized could create a monopoly in the market which is not really good for all living creatures. Water is one of the basic elements for the survival of human beings, so making it privatized would mean denial of a basic necessity. We should not privatize the water and it should be considered as a public good.
Posted by: I0rFashionThat gives incentive for charging the air we breath.
I don't see any right of making water private. Water exists in nature, and should be available for everyone.
If water is privatized, this will give more profit and power to the companies that sell it. More power means more control. Companies already control enough aspects of our daily lives. Controlling the water supply as well, and distributing it as they see fit, it reduces our freedom even more. So, let's not make water private, because if it becomes private then -who knows?- maybe in the future they will privatize the air we breathe.Posted by: Anonymous
Water on public lands should be considered a public good, but water on private lands that is bottled and offered at the expense of private individuals or companies should be rightfully privatized.
No one is stopping the general public from gathering water via rain or from public water sources. That said, I do not think that all water should be considered a public good, since much of it is collected from sources that are on private land. Furthermore, companies that spend money to collect, clean, bottle and advertise water should be able to profit off of their efforts.
Posted by: ToughEfrain26Rainwater is a public good, tap water isn't.
I don't need to argue it, that's simply what the term "public good" actually means! There is no discussion about that.
Tap water is a private good, by defintion: it is privately produced and then traded, not given away for free.Posted by: AnonymousNo privatizing water
Water is a resource to be shared universally. If it is privatized, it would become like all other needs to survive. We know what a big mess our healthcare system is in. It is designed to cater to the greedy people who don't have the country's best interest at heart.
Posted by: AnonymousNo, while water itself is free, the actual services required to maintain, run, and transport it are not free.
While water itself is everywhere and in abundance, the services should not be privatized, and should not be handed out freely, because someone needs to transport the water, pump the water, filter it, and build a filter for it. There is a whole industry based around water, so making it free would destroy this industry, put people out of jobs, and severely decrease water quality and availability.
Posted by: R4yAnychClean water requires special treatment, handling, storage and delivery.
It's pretty simple. If you want free water, dig a well or put out a barrel to catch it. That is free. Once it hits the ground on someone's property, it becomes theirs just as the grass and trees are. There's no sane argument for free water. It costs money to process it and ensure it is safe for public consumption.
Posted by: AnonymousWater should not be considered a public good because it could lead to even further waste
Water should not be considered a public good because it could create even further inefficiencies in how water is distributed. People currently waste and take for granted water supplies. It exacerbated the drought situation in California. If water is considered a public good, it could mean less efficient distribution of water based on regional need and resources.
Posted by: SandDariWater as a public good will lead to waste.
If we make water a public good, people are not going to notice how they are wasting it, and it will cause us a lot of trouble. Most of the people think that water is infinite, but it is not. Even though there is a lot of water in the Earth, most of it is salt water, which we cannot drink. Desalination is an option, but it is so expensive that some developing countries cannot afford it. People waste water in a lot of ways, and they do not notice it.
Posted by: Anonymous