Free Yourself From the Corporate Water Barons


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.