I mean just ignoring the obvious counter examples in africa where water is scarce in some places and the recent water shortage in Gaza, lets take a europe-centric view point.

You claim that water is free because you are allowed to extract it from the ground. The ground isn't free. You need to pay for owning it both initially and most countries impose an anual tax on landowners. You pay for the allowance to do anything including digging for water on your own land.

This, of course, assumes that you even have the opportunity to own land. In many places in europe it is getting prohibitively expensive to buy land, and the wealth distribution inequality is getting more extreme. So many people are literally unable to pay for the allowance to dig for their free water that you claim exists.

Yes there are some municipal water accesses but those exist because they are not used in an exploitative way. Yes there are water sources in public forests but those aren't controlled because they are not used in an exploitative way.

Water is for all intents and purposes that go beyond occasional refreshment not free.