Water is life. Purity of it may sustain and impurity may perish all. In that all consuming concept, it is necessary, and, it is commonly said that all necessities should be provided by the government. While such popular opinion is ideally justifiable, I believe that, with the exception of those of desert and disaster areas, governments should not be burdened with the duty of providing drinking water, as it can very easily be done by individuals in most areas.
Speaking generally, modern society has progressed far enough not to consider thirst as a threat. We get bottled water delivered to our doors in many places. And tap water is clean enough to just boil at home and drink. Small servings of drinking water are also cheaply bought at convenience stores almost anywhere. In terms of Bangladesh, for example, water is one of the cheapest of all home utilities. So, now, water is no problem!
There are of course those areas where all provisions for sustenance are scarce, may be due to war or other disasters, natural or not. Those cases must be held as exceptions, which they really are, and call for government sponsored supply of all general means for living, e.g. food, shelter, education, clothing, pure drinking water, even portable air conditioners, like often are supplied in USA and some wealthy middle eastern countries. So as said, there are exceptionalities, and they should not be used to argue against rationale, that is, distributing drinking water in times of peace is too trivial a matter for the government, or a bureau of it, to be occupied with.
We can, therefore, conclude that drinking water, in the contemporary perspective, is available enough to be left as responsibility on the shoulder of the governed, not the government, except the situations that go beyond all generalities.
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