Water Rights
Mar. 19th, 2009 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI found these two articles about water rights today:
The right to life is widely recognized as a fundamental human right. Anything which is absolutely required for life -- such as water and food -- must therefore be considered a right also, because otherwise the right to life cannot be exercised and becomes meaningless.
As a general rule, what lies over or on or under a piece of land belongs to the owner of that land, although some things can be sold separately. But they should not all be sold out from large sectors because that dimishes the usefulness of the land itself and can cause hardship for people later. In particular, it is more desirable that people learn to live within the water budget of their own land than buy water from elsewhere after exceeding what it naturally apportioned to that place.
What we have here, in these two articles, is a ruthless illustration of what happens when people treat water as a commodity. It isn't like luxury trade goods. It is a necessity of life, and there is only so much of it. When people in power try to prevent other people from gaining access to water, the result is disaster -- because it's not like people can just do without it. They are often forced to scrounge or steal or hoard it, and if all else fails, they will go to war and kill for it, because they would rather do that than lie down and die. If we wish to keep the peace, we must learn to treat water as a natural resource to be shared.
Is Access to Clean Water a Basic Human Right?
Istanbul, Turkey - With fresh water resources becoming scarcer worldwide due to population growth and climate change, a growing movement is working to make access to clean water a basic universal human right.
But it's a contentious issue, experts say. Especially difficult is how to safely mesh public-sector interests with public ownership of resources - and determine the legal and economic ramifications of enshrining the right to water by law.
The right to life is widely recognized as a fundamental human right. Anything which is absolutely required for life -- such as water and food -- must therefore be considered a right also, because otherwise the right to life cannot be exercised and becomes meaningless.
Who Owns Colorado's Rainwater? Denver - Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law.
Holstrom's violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride.
The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain.
But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom's property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways.
As a general rule, what lies over or on or under a piece of land belongs to the owner of that land, although some things can be sold separately. But they should not all be sold out from large sectors because that dimishes the usefulness of the land itself and can cause hardship for people later. In particular, it is more desirable that people learn to live within the water budget of their own land than buy water from elsewhere after exceeding what it naturally apportioned to that place.
What we have here, in these two articles, is a ruthless illustration of what happens when people treat water as a commodity. It isn't like luxury trade goods. It is a necessity of life, and there is only so much of it. When people in power try to prevent other people from gaining access to water, the result is disaster -- because it's not like people can just do without it. They are often forced to scrounge or steal or hoard it, and if all else fails, they will go to war and kill for it, because they would rather do that than lie down and die. If we wish to keep the peace, we must learn to treat water as a natural resource to be shared.
