Why Pay for Water There are things that we, as a society, believe we should pay for, and things that are free. Air, sunshine, the ocean, walking, these are free. In part, they are free because no one has really figured out how to claim ownership of them. Natural resources along frontiers where ownership has not been established have always been available to whoever has the determination to take from them. But, even in the "wilds" of the West, trees, fields, and rivers weren't truly "free". Wars have been fought and people killed over trees, fields, and rivers. What we have to understand, as a people, that if it is something that can be held in the hand, that thing will become subject to cost, in one way or another. While we have understood this to be a truth within ours and the cultures of the world for thousands of years, this application of ownership nevertheless raises some very basic questions. First, since water, food, shelter, and air are the four basic constants of human need, why should we be made subject to the whims of ownership in order to get them? It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate that while the use of taxation to pay for the infrastructure which brings us water is acceptable on the community level, charging individually for water and thus making the survival of people subject to the whims of small groups of people within individual communities, is objectionable and inhumane. Pages: 5 Bibliography: 6 source(s) listed Filename: 14398 Why Pay Water.doc Price: 44.75

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