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Water, Free or Pay

As soon as Nestle's produces water - that means producing hydrogen and oxygen and combining them - they can claim it as theirs.

Right now they're taking water owned by the public and selling it back to the public. What's next? Pay to breathe?
 
That's what I was thinking. Companies will start charging us to breathe...imagine if you don't pay your air bill and they cut it off.

Population Control.
 
Old scifi story. To go to the bech you had to drive through a tunnel. Periodically, during the hottest days of the summer, they'd close the ends of the tunnel and gas everyone in it. Population control. (Fredrick Brown, maybe?)
 
First, Florida is LOADED with spring water bottling operations.

I can assure you old Nestle boy sings a different tune when he goes in front of the country commissions here to BEG for more pumping capacity. (You can imagine. They ask for 10 shi*loads, 3 more than they really need and the commission gives them 5.)


They pump an incredible amount of water right out of the aquifer and I don't think they pay jack for it coming out of wells they own. They do get limited by local governments as to how much they can pump out though.


Bruce in Ocala, Fl
 
why should they be charged for it?

nobody owns water.. unless they purchase the rights to that water below the surface of the earth..... which ironically is claimed to be owned by the state... how they own it Im not sure... that would be no different than claiming to own the cloud it came from

I recall hearing a year or two ago about some state wanting to tax people on rain water...... as if they could control the amount of rainfall in their yard

and hundreds of thousands of people already 'pay to breathe'

stroll by your local hospital and see if it takes you more than 30 seconds to find oxygen tanks
 
Ya know, I'm of mixed opinions. Selling bottled water? Sure, that's fine by me, as the company put capital into it for the bottles, bottling process, etc. However, they definitely shouldn't get any kind of tax cuts, benefits, special priviliges for water use, etc. for doing so. Otherwise, I'd argue that regular citizens should get all that stuff, too!
 
You two are forgetting an integral difference between water and say gas or oil.

Easy access to plentiful potable water is Essential for just human life. That isn't the case with oil or gas. To completely deprive an area of water, no matter how sophisticated the society, renders that area uninhabitable.

If an oil company pumps Joe Farmer's oil lease dry, no one is impacted except Joe Farmer. If some commercial concern Overtaxes available water resources (and that isn't any infinite amount) then that can negatively impact the ability to subsist for EVERYONE in that area.

Governments have had some power on the distribution of water as long as there's been governments and flowing water.

You liberals of all people should already be in bed with this, "we're all in this together" concept. :rolleyes:

Bruce in Ocala, Fl
 
Which is something that always challenges me to come up with free market solutions. I've yet to come up with one I find satisfactory regarding municipal water sources and other things that are not only public, but finite and necessary for life.
 
We should get that credit and the free water can I ask when was it you looked out into the ocean and didn't see nothing but a big azz hole just a submarine moving about in nothing but air . :eek::D never so if water is there and its so easy to filter and make from condensation why are we paying for this beverage . cause they no its the one thing human and mammals need to stay alive . hey I forgot the 6pack of colt45 keeps me alive care to join :eek::D . I am just saying they sell for a high price to get what back . I think and say that we shouldn't pay for a 5cent bottle fee the company should and shouldn't pay for a tax on it either, remember they made it now pay for it . but they Dont want to give us nothing. but want us humans to pay for it all .
 
I read that in some states it's illegal to collect rainwater. Is this true? How would you police such a thing?

I can understand in some areas the land is dry & all run off must go to the land... but living creatures (us, livestock...) come before that & rainwater is FREE!!!

Overcharging for the delivery of water through cleaning, pumping & pipelines is one thing, but to criminalize someone for collecting FREE water from the sky is itself a crime. Someone wants us to prop up failing economies by paying for things which are FREE. No home growing, no watering your plants from a water butt.
 
dibblebill said:
State Rainwater Harvesting Statutes, Programs and Legislation

Short answer is yes, there are places where its illegal.
Click to expand...

I will admit to not having read the entire link, but did get through a lot...... The stuff i did read all seemed to be encouraging the collection of rain water and even reusing household water such as bathwater.

Lots of tax reduction schemes etc to encourage collection of rain water :-) not something i ever really need to consider here in Scotland...... Especially this year with the wettest winter on record!
 
Not sure what the situation is in the states but here in the UK there's no right to water. We have always paid for water - most houses these days are metered so it's charged by the cubic metre - and water has been supplied by private companies for decades.

Fresh water has always been a valuable commodity and the increase in population and wealth across the world is vastly increasing demand for - and therefore the value of - water.

The UN and other international agencies have long been predicting that water shortages will be a primary cause of wars in regions with low water supply - e.g. the middle east and north Africa.

Large swathes of the US (e.g. California) and Europe (basically, everywhere) are already struggling with water demand. Here, we're increasingly encouraged to conserve fresh water through more water efficient showers, toilets, washing machines, dish washers etc and the use of things like water butts to collect rain water for use in the garden (not really necessary this year as nature ran a free offer on garden pools).

Basically: get used to it. It's the future.
 
sntaylor said:
I will admit to not having read the entire link, but did get through a lot...... The stuff i did read all seemed to be encouraging the collection of rain water and even reusing household water such as bathwater.

Lots of tax reduction schemes etc to encourage collection of rain water :-) not something i ever really need to consider here in Scotland...... Especially this year with the wettest winter on record!
Click to expand...

It varies state-by-state. Some its taxed, some its tax cuts. Others, like Florida, take issue with its collection and require by law that you still hook up their water sources. It's very hodgepodge.

@Siempre (I'm too lazy to go back to quote): Yeah, it's the future, nobody can deny that. I've always argued that if companies and people would think long-term, regulations would be irrelevant because long-term, its so much cheaper to build "green" buildings, products, and water efficient things. Make it the "in" thing and the market takes care of it for you.
 
dibblebill said:
Others, like Florida, take issue with its collection and require by law that you still hook up their water sources.
Click to expand...

Say what?

I've only been in Fla for over 50 years. Apparently, I missed that memo. :rolleyes:

There are metric assloads of houses in the state that still get their water from their own well(s) and have a septic tank.

I think the only "mandates" on that may be for unusual situations where a septic tank would be too close to a body of water where the sewage could leech into the water. That would also be only governing your discharge, not your intake.

Now, I will say this. Salt water intrusion, ocean water being drawn into the aquifer, is a serious issue in most of the state now. In many areas the salt content is too high in the well water to drink without VERY expensive desalination being done to it. There are certainly many areas where it's just not *financially feasible* to desalinate your own well water enough to be potable so you "have to" hook up to municipal water, but I'm pretty sure it's not any State law. (I Might concede that there May be some CITIES in areas along the coast, where it is established fact that ALL the local wells are salt contaminated, that you be required within Those City Limits to hook up to city water. But, is that then more a city law or a nature law? You have No Other Choice if you want drinkable water.)

I'd sure be interested to see any supporting evidence you can dig up though.

Bruce in Ocala, Fl
 
OcalaFlGuy said:
Say what?

I've only been in Fla for over 50 years. Apparently, I missed that memo. :rolleyes:

There are metric assloads of houses in the state that still get their water from their own well(s) and have a septic tank.

I think the only "mandates" on that may be for unusual situations where a septic tank would be too close to a body of water where the sewage could leech into the water. That would also be only governing your discharge, not your intake.

Now, I will say this. Salt water intrusion, ocean water being drawn into the aquifer, is a serious issue in most of the state now. In many areas the salt content is too high in the well water to drink without VERY expensive desalination being done to it. There are certainly many areas where it's just not *financially feasible* to desalinate your own well water enough to be potable so you "have to" hook up to municipal water, but I'm pretty sure it's not any State law. (I Might concede that there May be some CITIES in areas along the coast, where it is established fact that ALL the local wells are salt contaminated, that you be required within Those City Limits to hook up to city water. But, is that then more a city law or a nature law? You have No Other Choice if you want drinkable water.)

I'd sure be interested to see any supporting evidence you can dig up though.

Bruce in Ocala, Fl
Click to expand...

http://www.enlight-inc.com/blog/?p=1036#floridas

After doing more research, the cases question regarded municipal, not state, law
 
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