The moment I heard about the suit against the Saudi company over Arizona's deep wells, I immediately thought how precarious is the balance between commerce and the management of resources. In sourcing, I have dealt with factories that used water-intensive processes, and adjusted sourcing strategies to meet the tight regulations imposed. What is going on now in Arizona feels like all this on a national scale. Foreign ownership adds to the complexities, especially when it goes with food production and long-term water access. The distress isn't a legal one, it is strategic. Water, then, becomes an instrument of export and no longer a common resource. Then the whole aspect of sustainability and sovereignty is changed.