The Economics Of H2O

Charles Fishman explains why “free” is the wrong price for water:

[R]esources that are free are wasted; there’s no incentive to learn to use them smartly; there’s no money to maintain and modernize the existing water system; there’s no incentive to reach back and protect the source of something that’s free. If it’s free, the message is that it’s unlimited.

In the U.S., we spend $21 billion a year on bottled water. We spend $29 billion maintaining our entire water system: the pipes, treatment plants, and pumps. We spend almost as much on crushable plastic bottles as we do on our most fundamental infrastructure system.

Source Daily Dish http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/04/the-economics-of-h2o.html