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Balancing protection against water bills - https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-it-will-keep-...

Well shit, we can really lower water bills by getting rid of all clean water regulations and simply stop water treatment.

Think of the cost savings!

Stricter (but not looser) standards can be imposed on state level. Canada has no binding national drinking water law, they leave it to territories/provinces to decide how to implement guidelines.

Watersheds don't follow political boundaries.

sometimes they do.

the Alberta/British Columbia border is defined by which direction water drains off the mountains

That sounds like the political boundary follows the watershed.

It also doesn't actually refute the actual point they were making.

What if instead we could all collectively agree that access to some amounts of fresh, running water is a fundamental human need? We figure a number, and the first N units are free. Additional units cost money, and perhaps you have two or three usage tiers where heavy users are disincentivized through additional cost.

You calculate the figures such that the higher usage tiers subsidize the costs of the basic needs users.

Or would that be socialism?

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