Water: private commodity or public good?

Water, one of the most precious resources known to mankind, is something we all enjoy and need especially in the heat of summer! I decided to write about water because it is something we can take for granted. It is estimated that 29% of people worldwide don't have access to freshwater. I swim in the ocean for hours a day in the summer, free of charge, yet my mother often complains that my long showers result in large water bills. How is it possible that water is free in some cases, yet companies such as Aguas de Cascais can bill for it?

Firstly, in order to understand this concept, one must note that a public good is a product that is considered non-excludable and non-rivalrous in consumption. Private goods are excludable (preventing those who have not paid for the good from consuming it), and also rivalrous (consumption by one consumer prevents consumption by other consumers).

Water is an interesting economic discussion as it is both a private good and a public good. When water is being used at home, or in factories, it is a private good as the resource of clean water is scarce. The ocean, however, is a public good as it is used for recreational purposes or aquatic habitats. Safe drinking water is also not a public good, as it is both excludable (your water supply, and yours alone, can be cut off if you don’t pay your water bill) and rivalrous in consumption as it is scarce (water that you use depletes the stock for others).

Water has long been considered a public good as it can be considered a human right to have the access to clean water, however, climate conditions have worsened. Wildfires, droughts and pollution have caused water to become extremely scarce and in October 2020, water became a commodity. This means that just like oil and gas, water is now considered and sold as a commodity. Many of us have nothing to worry about, however, this new distinction for water might result in exclusion for others. The real question is, to what extent has financial gain been placed over our basic human rights?