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Comment by infotainment | Hacker News Reader

Completely unbelievable that they were allowed to get away with paying essentially nothing for so long. Glad some action is being taken.

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There’s another company that pays 99$ a year for a similar lease and I’m unable to locate the source.

Most bottled water companies have this sort of sweetheart deal because we as humans don’t seem to value the thing that keeps us alive properly.

Freshwater speculation will be huge in the future.

Related: Nestle pays $200 per year to bottle water near Flint, MI (2017) [1].

As a Michigan native who has family, friends, and coworkers affected by the Flint water crisis, very frustrating.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/29/nestle-pays-...

> Freshwater speculation will be huge in the future.

The Harvard endowment bought up some real estate in the wine country of Paso Robles, California because of the future value of associated water rights.

https://vinepair.com/booze-news/harvard-buys-californias-wat...

Water cost calculations in the West are always a bit incomplete without a discussion of water rights. It takes around 500 gallons of water to make one hamburger. [1] The reason it makes economic sense is because agricultural water is 'free' at the margin. Farmers grow alfalfa and feed it to cows. Alfalfa is ridiculously water-intensive, at 5 feet of water per acre.

In that context, giving 'free' water to a drinking water company doesn't really seem outrageous per se.

[1] https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/23921/does-one-...

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