Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

5-2023

Capstone Advisor

Sarah Pralle

Honors Reader

Tom Perreault and Thomas Keck

Capstone Major

Political Science

Audio/Visual Component

no

Capstone Prize Winner

no

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Social Sciences

Abstract

My primary research questions are: first, what is the legal framework that allows corporations in the United States to source water for the sale of bottled water; and second, what are the environmental, economic, and political impacts of their actions in the affected communities? I answer these questions by exploring the variety of state laws that corporations are utilizing to access water sources, collecting data on all fifty states. I then focus on three communities in different U.S. states, focusing on regions with varying legal structures in place. The communities I focus on are Fryeburg, Maine;Osceola County and Mecosta County, Michigan;and Hood River County, Oregon. I examine the environmental, economic, and political impacts corporations are having on these communities, and offer a policy recommendation for further regulation of corporate access to water resources in the U.S.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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