by Marc Phillippe Babineau

Created on: November 08, 2009   Last Updated: November 10, 2009

As a basic human right, having access to clean and safe drinking water is right up there with the right to bear arms, assemble in public places and freedom of speech. Well, it may actually be one of the highest priorities of the basic human rights afforded peoples in the United States of America, as water is the elixir of life, something that people just can not live a healthy life without. Unlike guns and the freedom to say whatever one pleases.

The United States of America's position on access to clean drinking water as a basic human right is that every American should have access to water from their taps that would be healthy and safe for human consumption. Too much money is being wasted on bottled water, and the plastics involved in bottled water production, as well as the amount of water wasted on the production process. With the money saved from buying bottled water, consumers have more money for the basics. And, the landfills benefit from fewer plastics that take centuries to decompose.

From making sure that water sources are clean, factories and farms no longer leak contaminated waste into water sources (or risk major fines and possible jail terms), to limiting the use and contamination of safe aquifers and other clean groundwaters, the United States government has made lofty promises to provide clean drinking water to all Americans. However, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, in the actions. It is one thing to promise major water protection, reclamation and cleansing, and a totally other thing to provide it to every tap in the country.

Other countrie's positions on access to clean drinking water does not necessarily mean that the countries with those positions actually do anything about it. Many third-world countries, mostly run by dictators or ruled by clan leaders, take the monies offered to them by the more prosperous countries and organizations, and keep most, if not all, of the money for their own flamboyant lifestyles. Many countries would rather arm their soldiers, many of them children, than to initiate irrigation projects to move clean drinking water to remote areas. Policies based on maintaining control of a country have little to do with human rights, and human rights have very little to do with daily life in many countries.

As far as human rights go, the access to clean drinking water in the United States is one hot topic, especially with the pollution, invasive species introduction and level drop-pages of the Great Lakes. The Great

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