[PaulDavisThe1st]

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of examples of community managed resources throughout time and space that are more long lasting and more positive than Occupy.

Just in the part of the world where I live, but inherited from the Arabic world via Spain, are the acequias of New Mexico. Contrary to US law, they hold water to be a communical resource, and are managed at the community level, typically with an individual elected to be the "majordomo" who make decisions about allocations but is constantly subject to input from and being overridden by the community itself. When acequias "go wrong" (i.e. there are water shortages), it is typically caused by some combination of:

1. an actual water shortage

2. poor decisions on the part of the majordomo

3. someone stealing from the system

What it almost never is: a "tragedy of the commons" as described by Hardin et al.

[jart]

Is that where your drinking water comes from? Only a monster or a foreign invader would poison a drinking well.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

The water in this part of the world all comes from the same sources (wells, some surface sources, rain). The problem is not poison, but supply (i.e. overuse).

[jart]

I could imagine community ownership working in your case. Whoever controls such an important and scarce resource that many people depend upon for survival, whether it be public or private, is going to have their top minds focusing on maximizing its utility and longevity. The governance model probably doesn't matter as much as the virtues of the people doing it.