So You Own Clouds You Say

Remember the old phrase, “Give them an inch, they take a mile”? If not, you’ll certainly remember the old adage reading through these articles. This aphorism coincidently perfectly describes the situation mentioned in the articles written by Kost, Simon and the Boston Globe. These authors are arguing that these vicious, multi-billion dollar bottled water corporations are beginning to realize the profit potential at hand and are now pushing toward more excavation sites without fully realizing the effects of using these water resources and their rarity.
As Kost reports, these companies like Poland Springs for example, start with one site and all of sudden are expanded to seven. Yes, the businesses supplies jobs for the people and boosts the economy (the towns of the digging sites are paid for the presence of the company, sometimes to the tune of $1million or more) but these benefits are temporary, or minuet in comparison to the grand scheme of things. If these companies keep digging into what little water resources we have ( less that 1% of water found on earth is suited for drinking) sooner or later were bound to come dangerously close to low and what should be done then? Purchase water from these companies whom we ourselves sold it too? One can’t help but begin to question the whole concept of marketing and selling free water, why should we have to pay for water that’s already ours, already flowing through our faucets and showers and sinks? This, is what Simon is rationalizing.
Out in Colorado it is in fact illegal to catch rainwater. Now, if that doesn’t make you go “Huh?”   Maybe the fact that every raindrop, is accounted for and purchased before it is even shed will. Or at least it should. How is it possible to account for such a thing? Who has ownership over the clouds and where are his papers to prove so? It’s absolutely ludicrous for our government to think they have such authority that they can place a price tag on a cloud, how do go about placing a value...