"The wars of the next century will be fought over water."
- Ismail Serageldin, Vice-President of the World Bank (1995)
Resources to Prevent the Privatization of Public Water
Book “Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water" 2002 by Maude Barlow & Tony Clarke
Report “Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the Commodification of the World’s Water Supply” revised edition Spring, 2001 by Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, Council of Canadians Chair, International Forum on Globalization (IFG) Committee on the Globalization of Water
http://www.canadians.org/documents/blue_gold-e.pdf
Maude is with the Council of Canadians: www.canadians.org which has a Water Campaign
Tony is with the Polaris Institute which has an Operation Water Rights campaign www.polarisinstitute.org/polaris_project/water_lords/water_lords_index.html
Book "Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit" by Vandana Shiva
www.southendpress.org/books/waterwars.shtml
Public Citizen "Water for All" campaign: www.wateractivist.org
The Water Stewards Network: www.waterstewards.org
World Social Forum on Water: www.wsfw.org
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10 Reasons to Resist Privatization
[from 8-page booklet at http://www.citizen.org/documents/Top_10_(PDF).pdf ]
1.
Privatization Leads to Rate Increases
Privatization Leads to Rate Increases2.Privatization Undermines Water Quality
Privatization Undermines Water Quality3.Companies Are Accountable to Shareholders, Not Consumers
Companies Are Accountable to Shareholders, Not Consumers4.Privatization Fosters Corruption
Privatization Fosters Corruption5.Privatization Reduces Local Control and Public Rights
Privatization Reduces Local Control and Public Rights6.Private Financing Costs More than Government Financing
Private Financing Costs More than Government Financing7.Privatization Leads to Job Losses
Privatization Leads to Job Losses8.Privatization is Difficult to Reverse
Privatization is Difficult to Reverse9.Privatization Can Leave the Poor with No Access to Clean Water
Privatization Can Leave the Poor with No Access to Clean Water10.Privatization Would Open the Door for Bulk Water Exports
Privatization Would Open the Door for Bulk Water Exports~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Big Three in the Race to Privatize the World’s Water - among the top 100 corporations in the world; together their annual revenues in 2001 were almost $160 billion and growing at 10% a year -- outpacing the economies of many of the countries in which they operate. They also employ more staff than most governments: Vivendi employs 295,000 worldwide; Suez employs 173,000.
from: http://www.50years.org/cms/ejn/story/41
Less than 10% of the world's water systems are currently under private control, but at the rate they are expanding, the top three alone will control over 70% of the water systems in Europe and North America in a decade.
Veolia Water Systems, based in France (formerly named Vivendi): www.vivendiwatersystems.com
North America website: www.veoliawaterna.com
US Filter serving US: www.usfilter.com
Local Target - Selectmen in Lee, MA have tentatively set Sept. 9, 2004 as the date for a special town meeting to accept or deny Veolia's contract to privatize the town's sewer and water system. The town is under a deadline of Dec. 31 set by the state to turn in completed plans for the upgrade of the sewer and water system or lose federal grant money.
US Case Study -- 2002-2003: Plymouth, MA
A water treatment plant built by US Filter has not been in compliance with its permit since it began operation in early 2002. US Filter was awarded the $40 million build and operate contract for its experience in running water utilities, however, town authorities have been unhappy with the contract since, even threatening to cancel it in May 2003. The State issued a notice of non-compliance in January 2003 with 22 issues, including inaccurate and inconsistent testing, inadequate staffing, and reported rates of nitrogen and phosphorus levels two or three times higher than permitted. The states report also noted the breaking down of pumps, which in one incident had left the plant without pumping capability for more than 16 hours. Apparently the company had been aware of the issues but failed to report it to Town authorities, who were shocked when they were handed the states notice. The Town stands to pay heavy daily fines unless the violations are remedied. While US Filter has recently claimed they have been in compliance with the permit for four weeks, the state refuses to lift the moratorium on accepting additional sewage flow until compliance is noted for at least six months, leaving the Town unable to accommodate the rapid local development.
Suez, based in France: www.suez.com
United Water Resources is a wholly owned subsidiary of Suez headquartered in New Jersey that provides water and wastewater services in the US. Founded in 1869, Suez took full ownership in 2000.
US Case Study
In January 2003, the 20-year US $428 million water services contract between Atlanta and United Water was terminated after only 4 years. The contract was troubled from the start beginning with then-Mayor Bill Campbell's rushing the bid process as part of his re-election campaign. Once granted the contract, United Water asked for an additional $80 million for compensation for work it said was not covered in the contract. It claimed that Campbell had authorized a $4 million raise over 17 years but Campbell denied ever signing such documents and city attorneys declared that they were invalid. United Water was also accused of billing over $20 billion for work it never completed while sewer bill rates were rising about 12% annually, there were constant boil water advisories and it had cut costs by reducing employees from 700 to 300. A January 2003 report showed that the city of Atlanta had saved only half of what the company had projected as part of the contract. The City of Atlanta has now opted to keep their water services in public control and is creating a 346-employee department. Atlanta revenues represented about 4% ($20 million US) of Suez’s United Water revenues in the United States.
RWE, based in Germany: www.rwe.com
In 2000, RWE expanded its group of businesses which included the purchase of Thames Water, based in England: www.thames-water.com and American Water Works, the largest US water utility, now shortened to American Water.
US Case Study
The City of Lexington, Kentucky, is taking action to takeover their water system from West Virginia - American Water. Mayor Teresa Isaac won the mayoral election based on her platform of wresting the City's water from corporate hands. American and the city operate under a 1963 franchise agreement, which expired in 1988 and its legality is now in dispute. The company has petitioned to have a 16.4% rate increase be implemented by January 2004, which would bring in revenues of an extra $15.5 million per year. A grassroots group, FLOW (For Local Ownership of Water), has spent about $232,000 on the takeover campaign while American Water and a group opposing the takeover have reportedly already spent over $1million in advertising to defend the company. American Water has said that any costs incurred in the legal battle, which is expected to take 5-7 years and over $1 million, will be passed on to customer rates.
from Public Citizen: http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/activist/articles.cfm?ID=11118
Draft Resolution for Cities Supporting Water as a Public Trust
Water as a Public Trust
Whereas, cities have a responsibility to supply their communities with vital services including water and sewage;
Whereas, access to safe water is a basic human right and is essential to human life;
Whereas, water is a finite natural resource which is growing increasingly scarce, and is crucial to the welfare of all societies as well as integral to the survival of all species and ecosystems;
Whereas, citizens have a right to participate in the decision-making processes that fundamentally affect their lives, such as control of water, and government officials have a duty to protect this right;
Whereas, water is key to sustainable development in its social, economic and environmental dimensions;
Whereas, 460 million people worldwide currently suffer water shortages, and national and global corporations have responded to this crisis with attempts to commodify water and transform water management, treatment and delivery into a profit-generating activity;
Whereas, water privatization has been shown to decrease access to clean and affordable water and discriminate against poor and under-represented communities who cannot pay “market prices” for water;
Whereas, huge inequities exist in access to water between and within countries, and between rural and urban areas;
Be it resolved that the <NAME HERE> City Council
Affirms that every human being has a right to clean, safe and affordable water in quantity and quality sufficient to life and basic economic needs, and pledges to create and uphold policies within <city> as well as support state and national policies that ensure that all individuals have equitable and affordable access to water that meets basic human needs, and that no one is cut off from water supply due to inability to pay;
Affirms that citizens have a right to know about and take part in decisions regarding water services and pledges to maintain a high degree of democracy and transparency in policy-making in order to protect this right;
Affirms that water is a common good that sustains all life, and that it must remain an essential part of the public trust. Water should never be treated as a for-profit commodity and cannot be privately owned;
Affirms that any contract or subcontract granted by the city for $50,000 or over (relevant amount depending on city) to a private company to provide essential water and sanitation services must be approved by public referendum or public initiative;
Affirms that international trade agreements that underwrite municipal state or federal labor, environmental, health and safety regulations not be binding in the city of <NAME HERE>;
Affirms the necessity of policies that improve the conservation and stewardship of our water resources for all living things present and future.
