In a country where safe, clean, treated water is as easy as turning on the tap, this should not be much of an issue. I'm sure not all of America has good water, and I've seen Erin Brockovich, but I think this is still a valid point.

It seems that the water corporations (is there such a thing?) and the developing world would benefit dramatically from some working together though, so I do see some point here. I know bottled water is a profitable business, but it is inexcusably decadent. Can't the businessmen refocus onto creating contracts with the governments of the Indian subcontinent or Africa to provide safe drinking water for the people?

Safe drinking water would ensure a healthier population. At the very least it would quell the numbers of deaths among children from diarrhea. A healthy population is more productive population, enabling the country to pay whatever private company is providing the water eventually.

I'm sure it's not an ideal solution to have aquavitae controlled in perpetuity by people concerned foremost with money, but it would be an improvement.

People are stupid. People waste millions of gallons (or acre feet) of water each day. People just want cheap water, and they tend not to care what is in the water if it is cheap and plentiful. Plus, people have been moving south into the desert from the midwest while assuming that they can still have lush lawns and foliage.

It is a freakin' desert for a reason. This means that you don't have a grass lawn because there is a limited supply of water. If you foul your water due to your short sighted ideas, then you have to deal with the consequences.

If companies that cater to water consumption are making a killing, then the idea to privatize is the wrong one. do you think that private companies will not stoop to gouging people for water over a government entity? People are lucky that governments run water utilities and have government oversight. There is a private company that I am aware of that was selling water with excessive fluoride (weakens bones and teeth) with the idea that they would just shut down than deal with the hassle of treating the water to safe levels of fluoride.

Private companies are there to make profit. Water should be conserved, and people should have access to clean and reliable drinking water. I work to make sure people have clean and safe drinking water. But, it will cost something. My time is valuable, and the technology to treat water at a rate people are accustom to getting it is expensive.

People have gotten used to the idea that water is cheap and potentially free. It isn't.

In Michigan we have plenty of good water. Opposition to sending Great Lakes water to other places unites nearly all Michiganders and other coastal Midwesterners and Canadians, no matter how much we disagree on other subjects.

Since the early 20th century, government and an international commission have done a pretty good job of keeping the water here, mainly only letting it flow out to the Atlantic. As far as I know, only one water capitalist (Perrier!) exports water from the Great Lakes Basin.

If you want our water, you can move here. Real estate in Detroit and Cleveland is a bargain now. Do not expect us to start piping water to you.

If you need further proof of this idea, check out oil services firm Schlumberger's move into the water supply business. The water services industry is still a minnow compared to the giants of the oil industry, and it is easy for Schlumberger to move in and buy some key industry leaders (e.g. Waterloo Hydrogeologic Inc.).

This country is addicted to cheap oil and cheap gas, in spite of high $WTIC.

It would be positive if all Americans paid more for water consumption that exceeds a subsistence allowance of "insert appropriate number" gallons per person.

Think of all the environmental damage done by cheap water which (like cheap oil) encourages the American sprawl of Wal-Marts, subdivisions, golf courses and six lane boulevards. Or just look as Las Vegas, LA or Phoenix.

Imagine if only one-third of all Indians and Chinese lived like the average suburbanite (which they all will want to as their incomes approach Western norms).

Yes, there is a place for the invisible hand. Yes, the invisible hand can actually cause environmental good.

i for one cannot wait until i recieve a monthly bill for air and sunlight as well. i have another brilliant idea though, everyone uses time so why not privatize that and put a meter on that, say 12 dollars for every twenty four hour period - that would work out to only fifty cents and hour or less tha a penny a minute!

maybe that would cut back on a lot of wasted time.

Mos Def- 'New World Water' (1999)

There's nothing more refreshing (that cool refreshing drink) Than a cool crisp clean glass of water On a warm summer's day (That cool refreshing drink) Try it with your friends

New World Water make the tide rise high Come in and it'll make your house go "Bye" (My house!) Fools done upset the Old Man River Made him carry slave ships and fed him dead nigga Now his belly full and he about to flood somethin So I'ma throw a rope that ain't tied to nothin til your crew use the H2 in wise amounts since

it's the New World Water; and every drop counts You can laugh and take it as a joke if you wanna But it don't rain for four weeks some summers And it's about to get real wild in the half You be buying Evian just to take a fuckin bath Heads is acting wild, sippin poor, puffin dank Competin with the next man, but how your playa rank? See I ain't got time try to be Big Hank, Fuck a bank; I need a twenty-year water tank Cause while these knuckleheads is out here sweatin they goods The sun is sitting in the treetops burnin the woods And as the flames from the blaze get higher and higher They say, "Don't drink the water! We need it for the fire!" New York is drinkin it (New World Water) Now all of California is drinkin it (New World Water) Way up north and down south is drinkin it (New World Water) Used to have minerals and zinc in it (New World Water) Now they say it got lead and stink in it (New World Water) Four carbons and monoxide Push the water table lopside Used to be free now it cost you a fee Cause all things fully loaded they roam cross the sea Man, you gotta cook with it, bathe and clean with it (That's right) When it's hot, summertime you fiend for it (Let em know) You gotta put it in the iron you steamin with (That's right) It's what they dress wounds and treat diseases with (Shout it out) The rich and poor, black and white got need for it (That's right) And everybody in the world can agree with this (Let em know) Assumption promotes health and easiness (That's right) Go too long without it on this earth and you leavin it (Shout it out) Americans wastin it on some leisure shit (Say word?) And other nations be desperately seekin it (Let em know) Bacteria washing up on they beaches (Say word?) Don't drink the water, son they can't wash they feet with it (Let em know) Young babies and professional neediness (Say word?) Epidemics hopppin up off the petri dish (Let em know) Control centers try to play it all secretive (Say word?) To avoid public panic and freakiness (Let em know) There are places where TB is common as TV Cause foreign-based companies go and get greedy The type of cats who pollute the whole shore line Have it purified, sell it for a dollar twenty-five Now the world is drinkin it Your moms, wife, and baby girl is drinkin it Up north and down south is drinkin it You just have to go to your sink for it The cash registers is goin to chink for it Four carbons and monoxide Got the fish lookin cockeyed Used to be free now it cost you a fee Cause it's all about gettin that cash (Money)