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Refusing to deny access to water will guarantee shortages, since water is a scarce resource.
by VMG 6y ago
Refusing to deny access to water will guarantee shortages, since water is a scarce resource.
- ohgodplsno 6y agoWho are you referring to when you say "deny access to water"? Because if you are talking individuals, congratulations, you are actively calling for the death of individuals. Water may be scarce, but the amount available still is much more than enough for living beings.
- VMG 6y agoI am talking about individuals. Denying access to water is what ensures that a person who needs it can keep it.
- RobAley 6y agoBut everybody needs it, so who is left to deny it too?
- nicbou 6y agoI think we just need to clarify what "deny" means. I meant to deny vital access to water, not unrestricted access to it.
- VMG 6y agoEither you restrict it or you don't. What is "vital" or not is highly dependent on circumstances.
- eru 6y agoWe could easily give any individual a 'basic water income' of, say, ten litres a day for drinking and cleaning. Trading water wouldn't impact that kind of scheme. (Eg the government could just buy water at market prices and distribute as this basic income in kind.) The important thing is that we DON'T have enough water for all uses we can dream off, like growing almonds in the desert. So you need some kind of rationing. That means denying water to some uses. Rationing via market prices is one of the most (economically) effective and just ways we have come up with. (If you want to make some argument about how the water in a specific country should be the common good of everyone; you can still do the trading. Just have the government own all water sources, auction off the supply, and distribute the proceeds to everyone individually.)