State’s Water Cannot Be Privately Owned

The basic flaw in Mike Wade’s Dec. 25 letter regarding the Kern Water Bank is his assumption that water is purchased and therefore owned. Then, of course, water can be sold for profit to others willing to pay.

In California, water is owned by the people. A water right is the right to use the water. It is not a property right. This blurring of the line between ownership and the right to use is driving a new movement to turn water into a commodity -- to be sold to the highest bidder.

I, for one, would not want to live where such an important life necessity becomes market-driven -- to increase corporate profits -- and is available only to those who can afford to pay. It is the state’s function to allocate water in the broadest public interest.

Dorothy Green

Los Angeles