Let's suppose that it is government's charter to make sure that those who need water get it in a time of emergency. Restricting prices does not do anything to s

Let's suppose that it is government's charter to make sure that those who need water get it in a time of emergency. Restricting prices does not do anything to solve that issue. It exacerbates it by removing incentives for the market to get more water into the area. If this is government's charter, then government should seek to solve this issue by trucking in additional water to help alleviate the shortage and reduce prices naturally. Either directly, or by paying private firms the market price to truck it in and distribute it for free based on some criteria of neediness. I still don't think this is an ideal solution, but it is far preferable to government restricting prices and falsely claiming that will have any positive effect.