Can we discuss this a bit?
I've seen people claim access to water is a basic right. I mean, I don't disagree with them. The problem is that when they say "water", they don't mean "water", they mean "delivery of purified water".
Let's start over, take a few hypothetical scenarios.
1. You have several plots of land, each owned by a different person. Plots A, B, C, D, etc. There's a river flowing through them, but the source itself is on plot A. Now, do you think the owner of plot A would be entitled to completely dry up the river and deny its access to people further down the river? As in, he decides he takes all the water coming out of the source to bottle it and sell it? Or dam the river for some reason?
2. Imagine the same scenario, but instead its the owner of any plot deciding to change the course of the river, which would remove the river from the plots further down.
3. What about pollution? If one of them shits in the river, the water is polluted for everyone further down the stream.
This is why rights to water are so complex. Its nature as a dynamic resource means that how one person treats it limits how others may enjoy it. But let's go back to something even more basic: Access to drinking water. Now, let's not assume that a right to water involves allowing people to just do whatever the fuck they want with said water. We're talking about allowing someone to actually drink water. To me, it seems denying someone the right to drink water is just wrong. I can understand not wanting people to just do what India has done to its rivers (seriously, google Ganges river to get an idea of how filthy it's gotten). You don't want everyone to be able to just go in there and dump their bullshit there and bathe there and whatever. But providing a glass of water to someone who is thirsty is a zero cost operation which allows them to sustain their biological functions (live).
But this is where we have to draw the line. What I've seen these last few years isn't people claiming that people should be able to just drink water that's there. They think that people have a right not only to purified water, but to have said purified water delivered directly to them. Purifying and delivering water is not a zero cost operation by any stretch of the imagination. Someone, somewhere had to work to do it. If you think the delivery of purified water is a basic right, then you believe that people should have access to it regardless of whether they can pay for it. This means you think they should get it for free. If you think they should get it for free, then it means you think people shouldn't be paid for purifying and delivering water, or that someone else should pay for it. And in either case, what you're promoting is unpaid labor, AKA slavery. That is unacceptable.
My point being: Water should be available to drink for anyone, but its purifying and delivery should not be considered a basic right. However, because of water's nature as a dynamic resource rather than a static one, those who "own" waterways or sources have responsibilities towards them so as to not diminish the enjoyment of other private entities which also have access to them.