If there is one national resource that should be publicly owned in the United States it is water. There is a place for distributers, but water should be controlled by the public and used in its best interest.
Isn’t it already “publicly” owned though? It’s not owned by a single public authority, but rather a decentralized number of public authorities via city municipalities.
As the article mentioned, most if not all of these “bottled water” companies buy the water from the water municipality. Some go the extra length of bottling close to the source (probably so they can advertise/market tap water as “spring water”).
Maybe residents need to advocate for revoking the licenses of these private bottling companies.
I get the feeling that someday in the future, we're going to tell our grandkids how we used to go to the bathroom and water grass using clean, drinkable water and have them look at us funny.
I don't think the best interest of the public are important, water like every other resource on this planet should be used in the best interest of future generations.
The conversation on this podcast[1] with the managing partner at the PE firm who did this deal is worth a listen, interesting if you are curious how these deals come about.
