Should Water Be Legislated as a Human Right?

“UNITED NATIONS – The growing commercialisation of water – and the widespread influence of the bottling industry worldwide – is triggering a rising demand for the legal classification of one of the basic necessities of life as a human right.

‘We definitely need a covenant or [an international] treaty on the right to water so as to establish once and for all that no one on earth must be denied water because of inability to pay,’ says Maude Barlow, a senior adviser to the President of the U.N. General Assembly, on water issues.

‘We’ve got to protect water as a human right,’ she said, pointing out that the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva would be the most likely venue to propose such a covenant.”

My initial reaction to this was Yes, of course it should be an established human right. Companies that investment in the means of pumping, purification, storage and transport should be compensated by the public. That’s only fair. But people who can’t pay should have clean water to drink.

My second reaction was OK, what other enumerated human rights do we need to establish? Food comes to mind, and shelter. Health care. And how about … call me crazy, but what about Peace?