RE: Who owns water? Experts debate pricing, infrastructure investment
Making something a "public" resource makes it subject to political control by the powerful. Not sometimes, always, and regardless of who is in charge.
That would be a disaster with something so vital as water. Prices are a key mechanism in the decision to conserve, and profits as a result of good service (and not due to being government- protected monopolies) to others are a key mechanism in driving innovation and efficiencies.