Is access to potable water a right?

[davmat787]

Potable water should be provided at a reasonable cost. Private companies and charge and arm and leg for it in the U.S.

Do you have any adjusted data to support your assertion that by and large, water from private sources costs an "arm and leg" more than that which is supplied by municipal sources?

As far as I know, any rate increase would need to be first approved by the .gov anyway, so in effect the .gov is setting the prices anyway.

 

[DCal430]

Do you have any adjusted data to support your assertion that by and large, water from private sources costs an "arm and leg" more than that which is supplied by municipal sources?

As far as I know, any rate increase would need to be first approved by the .gov anyway, so in effect the .gov is setting the prices anyway.

Gov regulatory commissions are usually in the pockets of big private companies.

 

[Brainonska511]

There is closer to 1.5 mol of NaCl in 2 liters of water.

Link to source? Everything I've found suggests that sea water is about 0.5 M (if you assume all of the salts are sodium chloride).

But what would I know, I'm just a chemist.

Wikipedia: Seawater salinity:
"Although the vast majority of seawater has a salinity of between 3.1% and 3.8%, "

3.1% (w/v) = 31 g of salt per liter
3.8% (w/v) = 38 g of salt per liter

Assume all is sodium chloride, that's 530 to 650 mM. I wasn't off by that much initially.

 

[QuantumPion]

Disagreed. Clearly you can't demand any Water as your Right, but you can claim that having potable Water is your Right. That Right doesn't necessarily mean "Free of charge", but you must be given access to it. It also extends to Environmental concerns, protection of quality of Water and the like.

To argue that people have a right that imposes obligations on another is an absurd concept. A better term for new-fangled rights to health care, decent housing and food is wishes. If we called them wishes, I would be in agreement with most other Americans for I, too, wish that everyone had adequate health care, decent housing and nutritious meals. However, if we called them human wishes, instead of human rights, there would be confusion and cognitive dissonance. The average American would cringe at the thought of government punishing one person because he refused to be pressed into making someone else's wish come true.

--Walter E. Williams

 

[diesbudt]

Link to source? Everything I've found suggests that sea water is about 0.5 M (if you assume all of the salts are sodium chloride).

But what would I know, I'm just a chemist.

Wikipedia: Seawater salinity:
"Although the vast majority of seawater has a salinity of between 3.1% and 3.8%, "

3.1% (w/v) = 31 g of salt per liter
3.8% (w/v) = 38 g of salt per liter

Assume all is sodium chloride, that's 530 to 650 mM. I wasn't off by that much initially.

Instead of being fancy with mM, you could have just done 0.53M - 0.65M.

 

[Brainonska511]

Instead of being fancy with mM, you could have just done 0.53M - 0.65M.

Well sorry . I work a lot with concentration units of mM. Force of habit.

 

[sandorski]

To argue that people have a right that imposes obligations on another is an absurd concept. A better term for new-fangled rights to health care, decent housing and food is wishes. If we called them wishes, I would be in agreement with most other Americans for I, too, wish that everyone had adequate health care, decent housing and nutritious meals. However, if we called them human wishes, instead of human rights, there would be confusion and cognitive dissonance. The average American would cringe at the thought of government punishing one person because he refused to be pressed into making someone else's wish come true.

--Walter E. Williams

Moot. Ask yourself 2 things:

1) What is a Human Right?
2) Can one survive without Food?

 

[DCal430]

Link to source? Everything I've found suggests that sea water is about 0.5 M (if you assume all of the salts are sodium chloride).

But what would I know, I'm just a chemist.

Wikipedia: Seawater salinity:
"Although the vast majority of seawater has a salinity of between 3.1% and 3.8%, "

3.1% (w/v) = 31 g of salt per liter
3.8% (w/v) = 38 g of salt per liter

Assume all is sodium chloride, that's 530 to 650 mM. I wasn't off by that much initially.

Closer to 1.1 to 1.3 per 2 Litres, my mistake.

 

[QuantumPion]

Moot. Ask yourself 2 things:

1) What is a Human Right?
2) Can one survive without Food?

1) see my previous post here
2) No. Does that mean you are hereby enslaved to me for the rest of your life to provide me with food?

 

[CycloWizard]

The survival manual points out there are environments where shelter is more important to survival than food and "possibly even" water. Somehow, you read that and conclude that shelter - without any qualifications - is more important to survival than food and water.

Let's use your so-called "logic" and apply it to, say, the issue of abortion:

Now, go back to school and work on your reading comprehension.

Sorry, I finished school. All of it. Seriously - there isn't any more! They call it a terminal degree. Now they pay me to stand at the front of the room and try to educate future engineers. Hopefully I do a better job than whoever allegedly taught you engineering.

 

[davmat787]

Sorry, I finished school. All of it. Seriously - there isn't any more! They call it a terminal degree. Now they pay me to stand at the front of the room and try to educate future engineers. Hopefully I do a better job than whoever allegedly taught you engineering.

You know you have won an internet argument when your opponent goes to great lengths to argue an extremely minor point in your post, one that is not even germane to the larger topic under discussion.

 

[Incorruptible]

It is not a right and the taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for it