Water Ethics
Imagine living without basic necessities such as the water you drink. This is the story of
many people who live in countries that are denied access to water because they can’t pay for it.
Water has been viewed as a commodity in countries such as the US and it is an industry that has
been capitalized therefore the prices have increased. Corporations often increase water rates for
capital gain, making it more inaccessible to destitute populations. Contrarily, it is a scarce
resource in most of the developing countries. Worldwide more than 1 billion people still do not
have access to safe drinking water. This imbalance has posed for an objective to create a solution
where resources are equitably shared. Water ethics is the concern about access to purified water
and sanitation. There have been multiple solutions brought up by the people in water resource
management on what we should do to fix this issue of water disproportionality. The article “
Principles of Water Ethics” discusses how the distribution of water should occur. Jennings et. al
proposes six principles that would help us manage water equity to meet the needs of everybody.
Even though there are valid reasons for the commercialization of water, It is still vital to sustain
life. The water supply of developed countries should not be a commodity, especially in this time
where other people need it the most
Opponents argue that higher water rates can help promote conservation. Privatization of
the drinking-water supply in industrialized countries is to blame for this issue. It is evident that
denationalization has harmed deprived nations yet opponents believe it is beneficial for the
restoration of future resources. Privatization advocates remark that valuable commodities that are
provided free eventually gets taken for granted and is wasted. They believe that water should be
a tradable commodity, this may be the only practical way to avoid worldwide shortages and
environmental disasters. Denationalization would not be the best resolution because the needs of
the communities who have limited resources need to be met. An ethical method of distribution
would have to give social needs priority over financial goals. “Options for considering poverty
in water pricing include subsidy arrangements from public funds, cross-subsidization from
wealthier to poorer users or from commercial to domestic users.” (Sohail et al. 14 ) This means
that giving grants to the poor would hopefully support them in the transaction of purchasing
water. This dilemma is difficult because we need to meet the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Though I grant the fact that
higher water rates can help to promote conservation, I still insist that the concern for water
availability be fixed .
Most people would agree that the single act of putting a price on water is morally wrong
knowing that there are countries that don’t have access to natu...
