What's your point? First off, prevent what further? Drought conditions? =) Regardless of how much it costs the government to provide water, the end product IS water, and what consumers sacrifice for that product is money! Sure, the government spends a lot of dollars on maintenance, etc, and that is all reflected in the price of water. And guess what, the cost of providing the service shows up in our government budgets as well. I guess I don't understand your point, because that seems to be an implicit point in ALL public service provisions. The government has to choose, in a natural resource shortage situation, to either limit the consumption of water, or raise the price of water to help curb demand levels. Which do you prefer?