Blog Posts: Water

By Wenonah Hauter

John Fenton from Pavilion, Wyo. and Josh Fox tell Governor Cuomo: Don’t Frack NY (at the Stop the Frack Attack Rally, July 28, 2012.)

Last Saturday at the Stop the Frack Attack rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., you could easily have convinced yourself you were at an anti-fracking rally in Albany. There were so many signs urging people to call Governor Andrew Cuomo that it is clear concerned citizens across the country have their eyes on New York. And it wasn’t only New Yorkers at the rally saying that if Governor Cuomo allows fracking in New York he will never be president. Folks from across the country are looking to Governor Cuomo as our best chance to stop the spread of fracking.

D.C. may be four hours from New York, but in some ways it wasn’t surprising that so many activists from other states are concerned about what Governor Cuomo will do. Fracking is a drilling process that pumps millions of gallons of water laced with chemicals into the ground to obtain oil and natural gas. By now many across the country are familiar with the risks fracking poses to our drinking water, our air and our quality of life. Further, many have seen the disturbing images from Pennsylvania of people who can light their tap water on fire.

It’s no secret to activists from all over that New York is our best chance to make a real stand against the oil and gas companies. Unlike Pennsylvania or Ohio, New York isn’t controlled by extreme right-wing politicians. Perhaps more importantly, the oil and gas companies are not yet completely entrenched in all layers of government in the state like they are in so many other parts of the country. Given all this, it should make banning fracking in New York a pretty simple proposition.

There’s just one problem. Governor Cuomo has presidential aspirations in 2016. If there is one thing we all know about running for president, it’s that it takes a lot of money. The governor thus finds himself in a classic dilemma. On the one hand he doesn’t want to go against the oil and gas companies because he will need their money to run a viable presidential campaign. On the other hand, he can’t afford to completely alienate his base and still win the nomination.

The message in D.C. this weekend was clear. The progressive base in New York, and across America, is adamantly opposed to fracking. It’s time for Governor Cuomo to realize that some things are more important than money. He may think he can’t afford to anger the oil and gas companies just four years before he runs for president, but the reality is he can’t afford to enrage the progressive base by accepting fracking. Governor Cuomo must not allow fracking in any part of New York. 

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 Hannah Scott

Take Back the Tap for safe, affordable hydration during the Olympics.

Ah, the Summer Olympic Games: a favorite viewing pastime for sports lovers across the globe. It’s also an ideal opportunity for sponsors to establish brand loyalty with the spectators. Not surprisingly, major water bottling corporations are jumping at the chance to push their bluewashing, water-for-profit agenda.

In fact Coca-Cola, the parent company of the bottled water brand Dasani, plans on using this year’s games to attract new customers in the United Kingdom (they were also a very visible presence at the recent UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro). In 2004, Coca-Cola failed to enter the UK market when local newspapers revealed that Dasani is merely “purified” tap water, much to the outrage of customers. Making matters worse, Coca-Cola ultimately had to pull Dasani from shelves the same year it debuted after carcinogenic bromates were found contaminating the brand.

Four years later, Coca-Cola purchased Abbey Well, a small, locally-owned bottled water company that sells spring water. In doing so, Coca-Cola did not stick with the Dasani brand name, as it would certainly have reminded customers of the train wreck that ensued in 2004. Instead, they branded it under the Schweppes label, although the new Olympic design downplays that fact.

Due to the strict and controversial brand exclusivity rules that prohibit non-sponsor advertisement, Abbey Well will be the sole bottled water provider at Olympic events for both spectators and athletes. Moreover, a brand new design of Abbey Well has been crafted especially for the Olympics and is meant to instill a sense of “national pride.” But this doesn’t detract from the fact that big bottling companies often take water from municipal or groundwater sources that local residents depend on for drinking, sanitation, recreation and more.

Since athletes must drink a lot of water to stay hydrated, we encourage them to take back the tap by forgoing bottled water and drinking tap water in refillable water bottles. After all, when it comes to fostering a healthy environment and a healthy you, tap water medals over bottled every single time.

Hannah Scott is a Food & Water Watch summer water research and policy intern and a senior at American University. 

The greenwashed economy threatens our ability to pursue sustainable development.

By Wenonah Hauter

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch

(This post originally appeared at Otherwords.org.)

A group of international scientists says that the earth is dangerously close to its tipping point of irreversible damage. Clearly, we need a way out of the mess we’ve made of the planet.

The so-called “green economy,” which governments, business leaders, and some environmental organizations touted at last month’s United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, is actually a greenwashed economy. Its proponents ask questions such as: how can we put a price on nature so as to better manage it? Or, how can we make it financially undesirable to pollute? Those are the wrong questions, and they don’t lead us to real solutions.

Putting a price on nature — as if it were a widget to be bought and sold on the market — devalues its life-giving properties. It partitions the environment off as a commodity, leaving it for sale to the highest bidder. And pollution trading is like paying a robber not to steal from your home. Neither gets to the root causes of our environmental problems: the failure to take meaningful regulatory actions and the undemocratic means by which our natural resources are managed worldwide.

As our access to the planet’s resources that once seemed endless has become limited, corporations, multinational institutions, industry-funded non-profits, and policymakers are eagerly offering market-based solutions. They typically position private interests to profit from our increased need for shared natural resources.

Calling this dangerous trend “the green economy” just isn’t appropriate. It’s more accurate to say that these special interests are promoting the same old dirty economy under a new banner. And this failure to prevent pollution threatens our ability to pursue sustainable development.

Through clever greenwashing campaigns, huge companies have somehow created the ability to buy and trade credits that they claim will curb pollution. These cap-and-trade programs do little but encourage larger companies with deeper pockets to continue with business as usual. That ultimately leads to the continued disposal of contaminants into our waterways and our atmosphere.

Likewise, thanks to relentless lobbying and a hefty advertising campaign, the oil and gas industry has managed to convince key lawmakers and consumers alike that fracking for natural gas is the key to energy independence. However, that process — formally called hydraulic fracturing or shale-gas drilling — requires large quantities of water and a cocktail of toxic chemicals. Fracking can poison drinking water supplies, air, and farmland, endangering public health.

Meanwhile, some of us are struggling to protect the marine environment from pollution and overfishing of endangered species, while large commercial interests try to privatize access to fish or acquire permits to establish aquaculture enterprises in federal waters. These factory fish farms threaten the health of ocean ecosystems. What’s “green” about that?

And while we struggle to maintain that water is a human right, multinational corporations are privatizing public water utilities in communities around the world and profiting in places where safe drinking water is scarce.

Our food system is also rigged to benefit a select few companies who monopolize markets and profit from farmers who have no choice but to sell their goods cheaply. Walmart, for example, says it wants to offer healthier food options at affordable prices, but until it changes its business model — which squeezes farmers and workers and drives food production to become more consolidated and industrialized — highly processed foods will remain more accessible than healthier, better quality food.

We must promote real solutions that involve communities in the decision making, not just companies. We must protect the land and our water and decrease carbon emissions for the benefit of the public — not for the profits of private interests.

By Alex Beauchamp, Northeast Region Director

Originally appeared on EcoWatch.org

Right now, the Senate is weighing whether or not to approve a pipeline through the Gateway National Recreation Area, which covers large portions of Brooklyn.

The Senate is considering HR 2606, a bill allowing construction of a pipeline to transfer flammable natural gas near one of the most densely populated regions of the country. There are of course issues surrounding construction of the pipeline itself, but this project will also deepen New York’s dependence on fracking.

Let’s start with the problems around building a pipeline through New York City. This project will obviously be disruptive to Brooklyn residents, but the pipeline also goes through the Gateway National Recreation Area. This park, constructed for the enjoyment of all New Yorkers, will now face the potential negative ecological effects from the construction and maintenance of this pipeline.  

The environmental risks of this pipeline are clear. But there is also a substantial risk to public health. The risk of explosion is all too real—whether due to human error, a natural disaster or our dependence on companies to regulate themselves. In 2010, a pipeline exploded in Bruno, California, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes. Clearly, the potential for catastrophe is huge when planning a pipeline so close to the most densely populated region in the country.

The biggest problem with this pipeline, though, is it will increase our dependency on fracked natural gas. At a time when we should be moving away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, we are instead pulling out all the stops to increase our reliance on fossil fuels. Just what does more fracking mean for New York and the country?

More drilling and fracking for shale gas means more contaminated drinking water. Drilling and fracking have led to contaminated drinking water supplies across the country, whether from spills and discharges of fracking wastewater or from underground migration of contaminants into aquifers. Perhaps worse, drilling and fracking leave an underground legacy of pollution that creates long-term risks to water resources.

More fracking means accelerated climate change. Although natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, recent studies have shown that energy from fracked gas is as bad as and potentially worse than coal, in terms of driving global climate change. So we can expectcostly sea level rise, more severe storms and unprecedented droughts and floods even sooner.

More fracking means local air pollution problems, too. Air monitoring in Dish, Texas detected high-levels of carcinogens and neurotoxins after drilling started in that community. Air monitoring in Colorado has demonstrated increased cancer risks for those living near drilling and fracking operations.

The good news is that it’s not too late. There’s still time for Sen. Chuck Schumer to stand up and take a strong stand against this destructive pipeline. Not only will this project pose significant environmental and health risks on its own, it will also deepen our dependence on fracked natural gas, with all the attendant environmental and public health risks. The solution is clear, Schumer should oppose this pipeline and support a ban on fracking.

By Kate Fried

This month as we celebrate America’s 236^th birthday and declare our independence from dirty energy and soy-fed fish, some towns and cities feeling the negative effects of living with privately run drinking water and wastewater service may also want to liberate themselves from their corporate oppressors. From rate increases and degraded service to job cuts and environmental disasters, the movement to privatize municipal drinking water and sewer utilities has been a disaster across the board. So what’s a community to do when it has finally had enough of companies like Aqua America, American Water and United Water?

The good news is nobody has to be stuck with crummy, privately controlled drinking and wastewater systems. Communities can achieve control of these essential resources with the help of our new publication, Municipalization Guide: How U.S. Communities Can Secure Local Public Control of Privately Owned Water and Sewer Systems.

Municipalizing a water system can sound daunting. Heck, even the word municipalizing sounds technical and foreboding. But plenty of towns and cities have successfully completed the process, and with a little know-how yours can too. Food & Water Watch created the guide to help communities as they prepare to bring their water and sewer systems into public hands. It presents an overview of the general process and several legal and technical considerations.

Access to safe, affordable water is a human right, and all communities deserve to control their supplies. If yours so happens to be owned by a private entity, take a cue from our forefathers and break free of outside control. Let downloading this guide be your first step towards independence from private profiteering of drinking water and wastewater.  

By Seth Gladstone

In the annals of American populist activism, there are few individuals who have been more engaged or been more pervasive than Pete Seeger. His vehement opposition to fracking is a logical stance from the man who has come to define the fight for responsible and responsive government in America.

Seeger, the folk singer, television host and prolific political activist, has penned and performed many of the protest songs that are synonymous with the key social movements of the 20^th century. From his musical calls to action with Woody Guthrie and Peter, Paul & Mary during the Vietnam War to his politically-minded comedy routines on network television over the decades, Seeger was out front and in full voice on any number of popular (and sometimes not so popular) causes over the years.

  Read the full article…

Glacier National Park

By Katherine Boehrer

*Updated Thursday, July 12

We’ve all been feeling the heat lately. A record breaking heat wave has stifled much of the Midwest and East Coast, and some scientists are saying this could be a taste of what global warming will mean for the United States. Ironically, the National Park that is arguably most vulnerable to climate change, Glacier National Park in Montana, now faces the prospect of hosting more natural gas pipelines, thanks to a bill recently passed by the House Natural Resources Committee. Not only would pipelines carry a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change, they could put a fragile ecosystem at risk and perpetuate dangerous fracking in the region. 

The bill, H.R. 4606, was introduced by Representative Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and would allow the Secretary of the Interior to issue right-of-way permits for natural gas pipelines located within Glacier National Park. Simply put, this is bad for Montana in just about every way imaginable.

Since 90 percent of all gas wells in the United States are fracked, a pipeline through the park would almost certainly carry gas obtained through this hazardous process, perpetuating all the problems that come with fracking. Fracking can contaminate the water we drink with methane, salts, heavy metals and radioactive compounds. It can also pollute the air and impose economic costs on local communities. A pipeline in Glacier National Park could make the entire state more vulnerable to this harmful practice. Read the full article…

By Kate Fried

The dollars you drop at the grocery store have a direct impact on your health and the health of the planet. But try to tell that to Nestlé Pure Life, a brand of bottled water sourced from municipal tap water supplies, which recently launched its “2012 Hydration Movement.” In choosing tap water (rather than bottled tap water) you reject the commodification of a vital, increasingly limited, natural resource (and the extra expense) and choose water that hasn’t been left to languish for months or even years in chemical-leaching plastic bottles.

Nestlé’s latest attempts to put a positive spin on its products by marketing bottled water as the obvious replacement for soda inspired the following satire. Read this blog in your best late-night television infomercial voice. Remember that here at Food & Water Watch, we are all for replacing bad habits with healthy ones; but bottled water is not the key to a healthier planet or a healthier you.

Read the full article…

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…