1. In this particular case, it is not simply enough for the factory owner
             to state that he cannot afford to operate an economically sound
             factory. It is not only his economic future, or indeed his legal
             future, that is at stakeâ€"it is also the rights of the individuals
             whose lives may be affected by his environmentally and economically
             irresponsible behavior. Furthermore, clean water is a scarce
             resource. Unlike sunlight, it is not naturally renewable. By
             tainting this resource, the individual impedes the economic
             development of others. For instance, if I cannot go to work because I
             am sickened by the pollution from the factory, my own economic health
             One useful economic model to deploy when examining the irresponsible
             behavior of the factory owner might be to posit the Classical model of
             economics, as suggested by Adam Smith, which in fact does not propose an
             entirely hands off' relationship between government and industry. For
             instance, if a monopoly develops, the government, in this economic model,
             the government free to step in and break down the monopoly, to recreate a
             free economy where competitors can generate a healthy economic stasis of
             supply and demand. Here, the government must step in and assert that a
             healthy environment must be created for the general welfare as well as
             the economic stasis of all afflicted members of the community who are not
             privy to access to other sources of clean water.
             2. Allocating the property rights to those who use the river as their
             primary source of clean water would generate an allocatively effective
             outcome because those individuals would have a personal and economic
             interest in keeping the water clean. At present, the current
             possessor of the rights to the water does not have such self-in
             ...