[yodelshady]

How much water is a human right? We know what happens if you don't set a per-person limit to, at least, how much is free. But that's rationing (?) and evil, apparently.

I'm not entirely sure of the terminology, and I suspect there's a deliberate effort to ensure the idea of both government and free market supplies in tandem stays out of popular consciousness. See "death panels" for healthcare... if you can't compete with government, perhaps your business just isn't very good.

Alternatively, Universal Basic Income. Then, assuming your goal is to ensure people aren't dying due to lacking basics, you've only got one parameter to tune and one to monitor.