Groups Appeal to UN for 'Humanity' as Detroit Shuts Off Water to Thousands

[tularetom]

1. Water is indeed a human right, however..

Water may be fungible, but clean water is not. Clean water, delivered to your tap, costs money and somebody needs to pay the costs of treating and distributing that water. That somebody is the end user of the water.

No city has an obligation to provide water to its citizens. Once it undertakes this task, however, it has the responsibility to its taxpayers to recover the costs of operating the water system without raising taxes. Water bills are not taxes. If enough water customers quit paying their bills, the city could be forced to simply shut down the water system because they could no longer afford it.

I have no problem if the state, the federal government, or even the UN wants to step in and subsidize those Detroit residents who aren't paying their water bills. But they should understand it's a long term obligation. Once they've started, it will never stop.