Posted by Richard Crowley on 12/06/06 18:57

"Bill" wrote ...
>A few years ago, a South American country privatized it's water supply
>system. The new owners raised the price of water dramatically and actually
>claimed that it was now illegal for citizens to collect rain water for any
>purpose, since they had "exclusive" rights to supply water to the city.
>
> There was a massive uprising of citizens and the plan was shelved.

OTOH, there are places (like where I used to live, Orange County,
Calif.) where the local irrigation district "owns" the content of the
sub-terranian water table. You cannot drill a well and use water out
of the ground without paying them for it. They were even reputed to
have ways of monitoring electric and water bills to detect cheaters.

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