FLOWing steady
Felton, CA - Scores of Feltonians attended a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) hearing Wednesday night pleading that the CPUC require RWE to sell the local water system to the town. Felton passed a bond measure worth $11 million to purchase the system, but the company refuses to sell. However, RWE is selling its whole American Water Works and subsidiary Cal-Am, which manages the Felton system, and the transaction must first be approved by the CPUC.
Felton FLOW provided locally owned pizza to the 150 residents who attended. Surprisingly, RWE legal director Dietrich Firnhaber also attended and heard residents complain about high rate increases, poor service, and the lack of local control. Not a single person defended the company.
On the other side of the country, RWE and its subsidiary Kentucky-American Water are fighting residents in Lexington, Kentucky. Voters in Lexington will go to the polls in November to decide on the future of private ownership of their water. After failing to block the vote in state courts Kentucky-American's president now says "The best thing for all of us is to let our customers vote." Back in Felton residents have already spoken on RWE’s poor management. Their Measure W, which authorized the $11 million bond, passed with more than 70% of the vote.
Read the report in the Santa Cruz Sentinel here.
