Water is a public good, and should be owned by the citizens via their local municipality or county. That said, A LOT of water systems in the nation are in dire need of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements per system, which will total BILLIONS of dollars across the county. The local residents are going to have to fund these …
Water is a public good, and should be owned by the citizens via their local municipality or county. That said, A LOT of water systems in the nation are in dire need of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements per system, which will total BILLIONS of dollars across the county. The local residents are going to have to fund these improvements somehow, but it probably should be done via tax raises rather than water bill increases, or some combination. But either way, it will still be cheaper for the citizens if the municipality runs the system without a profit motive. With a public water system, the cost is really just the operational costs of staff and infrastructure. Customers pay for what it takes to sanitize the water and get the water to the house. In a private system, customers pay for that plus whatever profit the company can squeeze. I say all this as a southern, Christian conservative. Our American political compass is moving in crazy ways.
Water is a public good, and should be owned by the citizens via their local municipality or county. That said, A LOT of water systems in the nation are in dire need of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements per system, which will total BILLIONS of dollars across the county. The local residents are going to have to fund these improvements somehow, but it probably should be done via tax raises rather than water bill increases, or some combination. But either way, it will still be cheaper for the citizens if the municipality runs the system without a profit motive. With a public water system, the cost is really just the operational costs of staff and infrastructure. Customers pay for what it takes to sanitize the water and get the water to the house. In a private system, customers pay for that plus whatever profit the company can squeeze. I say all this as a southern, Christian conservative. Our American political compass is moving in crazy ways.