“One way or another somebody is not getting water”
Can you understand the concept of more or less people getting water? Yes, in both cases probably not every person who wants water will get it. But one way (higher prices) more people get water, and another (lower prices) less people do. Do you understand why the former way might be preferable?
It’s not more or less. Charging extra doesn’t mean more people get water, it just means DIFFERENT people get water, and you make a bunch more money on it. The overall math on how many live or die stays the same, the gouger is just making money picking and choosing.