Re:Nestlé Takes Majority Stake in Blue Bottle
by njarboe on Friday September 15, 2017 @01:55AM
(#15254953)
In the US people have mineral rights to the earth under the surface of their property. This can be separated from the surface rights and sold off. If one buys just the surface rights, then the entity that has the mineral rights can, in most cases, access your surface to extract their minerals. Not reading the fine print on your title and having someone want to exercise their mineral rights is a serious issue in the US. I would definitely be very wary of buying land without the mineral rights.
But the right to use water that lands on your property? Never heard of "rain water rights". Unless it was previously declared somehow, forcing you not to collect rainwater would highlight the need for the right to bear arms. I would like to know more about how that came about in those cases.
Re:Nestlé Takes Majority Stake in Blue Bottle
by cwkoss on Saturday September 16, 2017 @02:31AM
(#15263252)
Apparently it's technically illegal in Nevada.
Thankfully, sounds like it isn't practically enforced.
http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2015/05/26/ask-rgj-can-nevadan...
I believe are some serious injustices around water privatization in South America, however.
Re:Nestlé Takes Majority Stake in Blue Bottle
by agonow on Thursday September 14, 2017 @04:28PM
(#15252219)
This is similar to Thomas Paine's argument for a basic income in Agarian Justice. If civilization has deprived you the natural right to live off the land, it should compensate you somehow (access to cheap clean water or free water).
Making rainwater harvesting illegal (and thus forcing people to overpay a monopolized water system) is arguably a violation of human rights. It is a prohibition of what you are 'free to do for yourself', that forces people to pay for something they need to survive (and could otherwise get for free).
However, I agree on the haziness around the issue. Mandating that everyone receives X amount of drinkable water may be expensive to implement, economically unsustainable and create perverse incentives.