Should water in the United States be supplied by private companies?
Water, unlike electricity or the telephone, is indispensable to human life. According to Dzurik and Theriaque, it is the concern of many nations, including energy, food production, environmental quality and economic growth (1). Traditionally, water is considered to be provided and allocated by government. However, in many parts of the world, some public sectors still lack the skills and money needed to supply the demand of water, which is increasing all the time. As a consequence, governments turned to the private firms for assistance in supplying water to the public (Gresham and Shlaudeman 26). When this case happened, an issue was raised whether water in the United States (US) should be supplied by private companies or the government.
According to Center for Sustainable Systems of University of Michigan, 85% of the US population obtains its water from a privately or publicly owned water sources; the remainders obtain water from domestic wells (“U.S Water Supply and Distribution,” Par 2). In the book “Whose water is it?” the authors states that over the next two decades, cities in the US may spend 500 billion dollars to serve the population which is increasing dramatically. Some cities in the US including Stockton, California, and Indianapolis, Indiana, have contracted some services with private companies (McDonald, Jehl 6). According to the Economist magazine, The United States has around 50,000 water companies, half of them are owned by private companies (“Water, water everywhere,” par 3). The participation of private water companies in water supply is one of the most discussed topics in environmental field which attracts a lot of public’s attention in the United States. It is actually an environmental issue because it has positive and negative effects to the society and environment. A lot of debates, conferences, forums as well as other media mention about this issue. Many people are...