No free water

James Tager's April 7 column, "Free water," on water use is well-intentioned but off the mark. For starters, his claim that tap water is free is refuted by his own review of Durham's recent drought. Water use was taxed at higher rates in order to encourage less use, and then remained high for a time to recover lost revenue from the restrictions.

As for his argument that bottled water is an insidious deprivation of water from poor people around the world, I think we are going over the top here. Bottled water is most assuredly a scam perpetrated on germophobes, but Pepsi and Coca-Cola don't sail into poor countries and steal their water. They pay for it because the governments of those countries are willing to sell it.

Are there governments that would sell away too much water, keeping the profit and leaving the poor out to dry (no pun intended, seriously)? Yes, and we should restrict business access to these countries just as we try to restrict weapons, diamonds, oil and other commodities. But there are poor nations, like India, whose governments are trying to do right by their people, and overcharging a rich nation for water is one way they can bring in extra cash. If Tager wants to try to run India better than the people who live there, let him try.

So contrary to Tager's advice, I say: find out which brands of bottled water come from nations with worthy leaders and buy, buy, buy.

Mike Jenista

Graduate student, Mathematics