But water is not really a special case, though.
Tap water is nearly free and bottled water is >$1/gal. so the markup during a disaster is >100x.
Tap water is nearly free and bottled water is >$1/gal. so the markup during a disaster is >100x.
Bread, fuel, generators, etc... these are all things we can afford to be relatively dismissive of and just say that price caps are unneeded/bad. That may also be the case with water, but I don't feel comfortable saying that with my limited knowledge.
Also consider that @ $1 per 16oz bottle you are paying $8/gal for essentially tapwater that was bottled and driven in from out of state. But try to sell a gallon of gas for $5 and you are some kind of monster...