Leaving aside the UDHR's enforceability in the US, the document doesn't actually include the word "water" or "drink". What it does include is this: > (1) Every

Leaving aside the UDHR's enforceability in the US, the document doesn't actually include the word "water" or "drink". What it does include is this: > (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. IANAL and don't know much about international law, but I'm guessing that's what people mean when they talk about the right to water, since certainly water is necessary for health and on par with food and shelter, and it's reasonable to read water into that article. But it's hard to imagine that means the government can't use shutting off water as an enforcement mechanism for water prices. That would be largely the same as saying that right is actually not to have water, but to not pay for it. If you take that to mean "you don't have to pay for water", you're also saying you don't have to pay for clothes or housing. If I don't pay my rent, can the government enforce my eviction? Or does my right to housing supersede that? What if I have a huge house and piles of money? I think it makes more sense to say that you have a right to access water on reasonable and affordable terms. If you can afford water but opt not to, you're not being deprived of water in the relevant sense.