For people in this world, water is hard to come by.
The earth’s surface is 71 percent however, the ocean holds 96.5 percent of water, according to the USGS website. If the earth holds this much water, why do we profit off of an essential, natural resource?
Big corporations, local and state governments control the waterways and resources.
Now, Delta’s Director of Marketing and Communications Alex Breitler, was once an environmental journalist. Breitler gave a brief explanation on why the government has to control the water supplies.
“There are thousands of people and companies throughout California that have rights, which means they have a legal right to divert water from a specific source and put it to a good use (they’re not allowed to waste it) so they have a right to divert the water but they don’t own the water,” said Breitler.
Breitler said the state has to make sure that those who have water rights are using them in a way that protects the public’s best interest, such as making sure limited water isn’t wasted around the world.
In some cases, water right holders are farmers and they use their water to grow crops,” Breitler adds. “While some holders are in cities or towns. Some holders might be bottling water and selling it, which is known as ‘water privatization.’”
Major companies like Nestle, Crystal Geyser and McCloud Artesian Spring Water were invited by Siskiyou county officials to use water resources for commercial purposes, according to a 2018 article in The Journal written by Jane Braxton Little.
Second year Delta Student and Heavy Diesel Mechanics major, Abbie Waddle, said if people are the only ones damaging Earth’s resources, such as water.
“Yes, we’re the only ones, probably most likely damaging like the water and our Earth’s resources, because I feel like we’re the only ones capable of creating contaminants that aren’t neutral and probably an abundant amount of stuff that is not neutral that throws things out of balance,” said Waddle.
Corporations shouldn’t profit off an essential need, like water. Why can’t people just have access to free water?
“I think it depends,” said second year Delta student Emme Montemayor. “Because if people know that they’re handing out free water, then they might just rely on that, but I think for the most part yes.
All living things need water to survive. We shouldn’t profit off of Earth’s resources. We use water to wash, cook, clean and consume. There shouldn’t be restricted access to it.
