Blog Posts: Water utility

Northwest Organizer, Julia DeGraw stands with Oregon Representative Dembrow after the Oregon Senate passed the Renew America’s Water Memorial.

By Julia DeGraw and Ronnette Steed

It’s been a good week for clean water lovers. On Monday, May 20, the Oregon State Legislature gave final passage to a memorial to Renew America’s Water with overwhelming bipartisan support as the Senate voted 29-0 on passage. The House previously passed House Joint Memorial 7 by a vote of 55-0.

HJM 7 calls on Congress to reinvest in our deteriorating water infrastructure and it sets an important precedent for other states to follow. The resounding endorsement of the Oregon Legislature to adequately fund our sewer and drinking water systems is something Republicans and Democrats both agree on. Updating and maintaining our public water systems creates much-needed jobs in both urban and rural communities, improves the environmental quality of our lakes, rivers and beaches and ensures clean, safe water for kids in our schools and for families across America.

HJM Chief Sponsor Representative Michael Dembrow (D-45) summed up the need for reinvestment in our water systems with this statement:

“Safe, clean water is one of the most precious public resources that we have. Across Oregon and the rest of this country, our public drinking water and wastewater systems are facing a crisis. These public water systems have provided clean, affordable water to generations, but they are falling into a state of disrepair. Congress must act now to increase investment in state revolving loan programs that assist communities with repairing and upgrading their water infrastructure, to maintain access to affordable water.”

According to a Congressional Budget Office 2010 report, federal investment in water and sewer systems has fallen 82 percent from 1977 to 2009 from about $15.6 billion per year to a mere $2.8 billion. The dismal amount money set aside by Congress also varies widely from year to year, which means municipal public utilities cannot rely on that money to plan important projects. Our public water and sewer utilities need an adequate and reliable source of funding from the federal government. With water systems and pipes built 50 to 100 years ago aging out and new rules for water quality from the EPA, it is high time to bring our public water systems into the 21^st century.

Getting our water systems up to snuff and properly maintained isn’t just critical for public health and safety, but it is also good business. If Congress fills the budget gaps for our aging water infrastructure it could create over 5,000 jobs in Oregon alone. Most of those jobs would be in rural communities that need the economic boost the most.

Congress could create jobs, boost the economy, improve the environment and ensure clean safe water for the majority of Americans by passing legislation to Renew America’s water. We have a trust fund for transportation; having one for our water systems is long overdue. If Republicans and Democrats in the Oregon State Legislature can get together to support a full-fledged endorsement to fix our water systems, hopefully they can motivate Congress to do the same.

Ronnette Steed is a Food & Water Watch volunteer in Portland, Ore.

The Ides of March – March 15 – marks the day in 44 B.C. that Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate. This year in the United States, If Congress and the President reach the First of March without a budget compromise, the state of our economy could become just as bloody and the federal agencies that protect our food and water could be crippled beyond repair.

These severe cuts being threatened are part of a process that Congress invented called “sequestration,” which comes after several years of political show-downs including a committee that was anything but super, an imaginary “fiscal cliff” and deadline after deadline being pushed back. Sequestration was supposed to be the ominous bitter pill that we would never actually need because just the sheer threat of it would force both parties to behave and do their job. But here we are – about 72 hours away from 8 percent across-the-board budget cuts in many departments of the federal government. You don’t need to look much further than the front page of your local newspaper (no matter where you live) to see how these cuts will impact all of us, but particularly the most vulnerable members of society and the middle class. Read the full article…

By Roxanne Darrow

Mexico City, the second largest city in the Western Hemisphere with 19.3 million inhabitants, is having major water problems. Over the past month, Mexico City’s water authority, Conagua, has been delivering water to consumers that has a foul odor and taste and activists there are questioning Conagua’s transparency in the matter.

The source of the problem is in the Valle de Bravo dam, which feeds into the Lerma-Cutzamala system that provides 30 percent of the water to Mexico City inhabitants.  

The Valle de Bravo dam has been infested with algae for several weeks, which means there is a large quantity of organic matter that provides food for bacteria, viruses and parasites to multiply and contaminate the water. Not only have citizens suffered from an unusual increase of intestinal illnesses from drinking contaminated water, they may also be at risk for liver damage if they continue to drink contaminated water over the long term.  

Conagua needs to act quickly to provide safe water to citizens while they remove algae from the dam, but Conagua argues their treatment system produces clean and safe water and that no epidemics have broken out. Bad smelling and poor tasting water is due to dirty water tanks at the municipal and consumer level, explain Conagua authorities.

However, Mexico City water activists call Conagua’s water safety into question and doubt the accuracy of water quality and treatment information available to the public. Food & Water Watch’s Claudia Campero works with the Coalition of Mexican Organizations for the Right to Water (COMDA) and consulted with a gastroenterology specialist who found an atypical increase of gastrointestinal illnesses in the part of Mexico City where most of the Valle de Bravo dam water ends up. Worse yet, Conagua’s activated carbon and chlorine treatment methods for last month’s algae infestation are similar to treatment methods that have been shown to produce carcinogenic chemicals.

Conagua needs to be transparent about their water treatment methodology and disclose the result of all their water samplings. How are they treating the water for human feces contamination and how effective has this been?

Access to clean water is a human right. Conagua is responsible for providing safe and clean water to Mexico City citizens.

COMDA calls for Mexican authorities to:

1. Abide by their constitutional obligations.
2. Provide continuous and accessible information about water quality.
3. Provide free, safe water to vulnerable populations while fixing the polluted water distribution system.

Learn more about our global water justice work here.

Roxanne Darrow is a summer intern with the Food & Water Watch International Policy Program. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a BA in International Development Studies.

By Rich Bindell

Some good news to kick off your Independence Day! In Las Cruces, New Mexico, local citizens rallied to defeat an unfair city policy that would have blocked citizens with unpaid traffic tickets from having the right to water.

If you recall, Food & Water Watch issued an unofficial citation to the city council for violating the right to water. Just a few weeks later, the council backed off and declared that the city would seek alternatives to punishing violators.

This is a wonderful victory for the local citizens of Las Cruces! It’s nice to be able to report to volunteers, organizers and our supportive social media community that their voices were heard!

Food & Water Watch Volunteer Jason Burke, who lives in Las Cruces, said it best… Read the full article…

By Rich Bindell

UPDATE: We are happy to report that this situation has been resolved thanks to the citizens of Las Cruces who spoke out against implementation of the ordinance. Click here to find out how local citizens and our active social network made a positive difference. 

The City of Las Cruces is trying to recoup close to nearly $2 million in unpaid tickets for running red lights. But while times of economic turmoil call for desperate measures, their punishment doesn’t fit the crime. A loophole in a city ordinance would allow the City of Las Cruces to shut off utilities, including water and sewage services, for residents with unpaid red light tickets. Food & Water Watch organizers are currently working with local allies to convince Las Cruces City Council to put an end to this policy. We’re serving notice to the City Council that they’re violating the human right to water.

And Las Cruces isn’t the only city with this problem. With budget shortfalls threatening funding for public services in cities throughout the country, some leaders have incorporated desperate tactics to try to right their ships. Unfortunately, some of these tactics come not only in the form of household water shut-offs for traffic violations, but also threats of jail time for those who can’t afford sanitation systems, and even anti-immigration policies that deny access to water.

Since the United Nations officially recognized water as a human right in July 2010, it’s time for the United States to start working toward making that declaration a reality. Food & Water Watch’s new report, Our Right to Water (a collaboration with the Council of Canadians), demonstrates that we can’t take our relationship with water for granted. Learn more about the report here.

Live in Las Cruces? Act now and sign this petition telling this City Council to stop water shut offs for unpaid traffic tickets: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10375

If you don’t live in Las Cruces but are a New Mexico resident, take action here by telling the New Mexico Attorney General to instruct city officials to stop enforcing this dangerous policy: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10408

By Alison Grass

Here at Food & Water Watch we have just submitted comments for the Haverstraw Water Supply Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), a proposal by United Water New York for an economically and environmentally costly desalination plant in Rockland County, New York.

United Water, owned by Paris-based Suez Environnement, says they are bound by New York Public Service Commission orders to increase Rockland County’s long-term water supply, and the company claims that desalination is the only way to do this. We can’t help but disagree. In fact, it should be brought to light that United Water New York disregarded a variety of other long-term, more viable, less damaging options as early as January 2007 when they first publically announced their decision to go forward with the desalination plant.

What many people may not know is that United Water’s motivations to pursue this project conflict with the public’s best interest. Investor-owned water utilities, like United Water, earn a return on their capital investment: the more they invest in their water systems, the more profit they can make. What happens when private interests drive water policy? In the case of Rockland County, customers will face hefty water rate increases to pay for the project’s high financing and operating costs.

The company claims using conservation methods for a long-term water supply project is infeasible because they are a private company and cannot require their customers to participate in water conservation. However, water conservation is in the best interest of the surrounding community and the public in general. United Water could build a long-term water supply project based upon their already-existing water conservation initiatives. The DEIS even admits, “United Water’s conservation measures have been influential in reducing the overall water use patterns in the service area.” Why not make conservation a long-term water supply project in Rockland County?

Rockland County is not alone in their circumstances. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation should consider the fact that many communities hard-pressed to implement desalination plants have endured outlandishly expensive financial burdens. The Haverstraw Water Supply Project fails to meet or encourage long-term sustainable water management. In fact, it is highly probable that United Water will reap the benefits at the ratepayer’s expense, not including the potential negative environmental impacts the project may inflict upon water resources and wildlife habitats.

The proposed desalination plant would be sited only 3.5 miles downstream from the aging Indian Point nuclear plant, which is increasingly leaking radioactive tritium and strontium-90 into the river. The plant would be built in Haverstraw Bay, the most highly rated “Significant Coastal Fish & Wildlife Habitat” in the Hudson River Estuary. The energy-intensive plant would likely imperil the irreplaceable fisheries and significantly increase air pollutants, including greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to meet the future water needs for Rockland County, we firmly believe that corporate interests should not drive water policy. Rather, the people and policymakers need to take a comprehensive approach to water management through water efficient appliances, water conservation, green/improved infrastructure and sustainable land use planning.

Concerned citizens have until Friday, April the 20th at 5:00pm to take action, and we urge the people of Rockland County to oppose this proposal as harmful to the environment, unsafe, expensive, and unnecessary! Rockland County residents can do this by going to and signing onto our petition, demanding that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to reject the application of United Water for the Haverstraw Water Supply Project.

Mail public comments to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NY DEC) at:

Christopher Hogan
NYS DEC Division of Environmental Permits
625 Broadway, 4th Floor
Albany, NY 12233-1750
Phone: (518) 402-9167, Fax: (518) 402-9168
E-mail: [email protected]

By Mary Grant

If you’re a regular denizen of a U.S. city, water infrastructure is probably out of sight and out of mind — that is until you have to boil your water before drinking it, or your water bill skyrockets, or a clogged sewer pipe swamps your lawn or a broken water main floods the road stopping traffic.

While it isn’t always obvious, our nation’s water infrastructure is facing a funding crisis. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently estimated that we’re falling $55 billion short each year on funding the improvements necessary to ensure safe and sound water and sewer service. Without greater investment, that gap will reach $84 billion by 2020. The American Water Works Association estimates that renovating our aging utilities will cause water bills to triple in some places.

So, how do we address this shortfall and protect consumers from high bills?

Some water industry players, politicos and liberal policy wonks think the answer lies in a national infrastructure bank that encourages private investment through public-private partnerships — deals that privatize the operation of a system while the public retains ownership and ultimate responsibility. Read the full article…

By Wenonah Hauter

Ruby Williams, a 78-year-old Aqua Pennsylvania customer, got stuck with a $40,000 water bill because of a serious leak in the pipes under her home in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania. After her situation garnered national media attention, the private company agreed to reduce her bill to a few hundred dollars.

Likewise, the Price family of Stallings, North Carolina recently had their sewage service cut off by Aqua North Carolina despite having paid an overdue bill. The company demanded $1,000 to restore it — hundreds of dollars more than the actual cost to do the work. Again, thanks to bad publicity and public outrage, Aqua backed down.

It’s not just American consumers that feel the pinch as our municipal water systems change from public to private hands — and it’s not just that Aqua America is one bad actor, either. Private interests worldwide increasingly control our water. Too often, customers are getting a raw deal.

Read the full article…

By Kate Fried

While I’ve been writing about water privatization for almost four years now, it sometimes still seems to me like an extremely abstract issue. Sure, I know that private water companies tend to raise consumer rates, scrimp on customer service, and downsize their work forces. But how often do I meet consumers who have been personally affected by the problems inflicted by private water companies? Not terribly often. Yes, perhaps I should get out more.

Therefore, when a series of emails floated through my inbox detailing some of the frustrations that customers of Aqua America and its subsidiaries have encountered in recent months, my attention was piqued because they connected the problems of privatization to actual humans. Join me as I introduce you to a few of them and their water woes.

Meet Ruby Williams. Ms. Williams, a 78-year-old Aqua Pennsylvania customer, gained nation attention not long ago for being hit with a $40,000 water bill after a leak left her plumbing lines gushing more water than it takes to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The leak occurred on the side of her water line that Aqua Pennsylvania does not claim responsibility for, so instead of offering solutions for resolving it, they sent her a bill that rivaled the cost of tuition at a private university and offered to set her up on an installment plan. Only after Ms. Williams’ situation garnered national media attention, and only after a county social services agency began collecting donations to help her pay her bill did the company agree to reduce her bill to hundreds of dollars instead of tens of thousands.  

Now meet the Price family of Stallings, North Carolina. Aqua North Carolina recently cut off their wastewater service despite the fact that they had paid their bill, and then demanded $1000 to restore it. According to state regulators, the actual cost should have been $645–still a hefty price, but about a third less than what Aqua asked. Luckily, the state intervened, and the company restored their service at no charge. An investigation is now underway.

Finally, meet the residents of Newlin Greene, a subdivision of Newlin Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Residents there are facing a drinking water bill increase less than a year after their provider Aqua Pennsylvania raised sewer rates by 60 percent. They are already paying nearly $2000 a year for sewer service on average, and if the company gets it way, they will ending up paying more than $1000 a year for water service. That’s a total of about $3000 a year for water and sewer service.  Ouch.

Not long ago, presidential contender Mitt Romney opined “corporations are people,” but the experience of these Aqua America subsidiary customers suggests that some corporations are not people who should be trusted with our valuable water resources, nor should they necessarily be invited into our homes. After all, what would you do if your life and your wallet were turned inside out by one of these companies?

By Rich Bindell

Food and Water Watch joined 15 organizations in signing a thank you letter to President Obama for delaying any decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline (KXL), a project proposed to transport dirty tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Now, in a political charade, the GOP is trying to force approval of the KXL Pipeline in exchange for the payroll tax cut extension.

The pattern is obvious. Conservatives, on behalf of the oil and gas industry, push aggressively for blind approval of dirty energy projects, and for gutting environmental protections against these projects. This is always at the expense of folks who end up having to deal with the toxic mess industry leaves behind.  The Republican ruse is to make wild proclamations about job creation to distract from the environmental and public health costs. A recent Cornell study shows that claims of tens of thousands of jobs are absurd. A realistic projection is about 2,500-4,650 temporary construction jobs.

In the case of the KXL Pipeline, Republicans are trying to override the U.S. Department of State approval process. (State has jurisdiction since the pipeline would cross the border with Canada.) Under the political radar, many other pipelines are currently being considered or constructed in regions throughout the country. Along with the rush to drill and frack for shale gas comes the need to transport the shale gas from well sites to locations where industry can process it and distribute it to be sold. But many miles of these pipelines are completely unregulated, and even the people who should know the goings on with various pipelines are out of the loop. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the federal agency that oversees the pipelines under that Department of Transportation, is riddled with problems.

In Pennsylvania, regulators don’t even know where some of the pipes being constructed to carry shale gas are located. And, sometimes, there is no one accessible to report to if and when independent inspectors discover problems. As one might guess, some of these pipes are rather large and there are plans to build approximately 10,000 – 25,000 miles worth of them to carry shale gas. And if it isn’t enough that they cause environmental damage while being built, they can also explode, which has already happened in Allentown, Pa., San Bruno, Ca., and Philadelphia. Can we really expect the thinly stretched PHMSA to handle the rapid expansion of pipeline projects?