Stockton Privatization is Finally Dead in the Water
Another one bites the dust! On March 1st, the city of Stockton, California regained control of its water and sewer utilities after five years of protests and legal battles. The $600 million, 20,year contract with OMI,Thames Water was one of the largest — and most notorious — water contracts in the United States. Soon after the company took over the water utility in 2003, numerous problems started occurring such as rate increases higher than promised, increased sewer overflows (major YUCK factor), and poor maintenance of infrastructure. No wonder a group of Stockton citizens got together to fight off this behemoth!
And Stockton isn’t the only city rejecting private control of their water. Recently, a number of cities have started to break ties with their private water provider and instead opt for public ownership of their water services. Places like Cave Creek and Scottsdale, Arizona, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Orcas Island communities in Washington have all found that privatization is not the solution to improving their water woes. Instead, many of them have experienced poor service and increased water rates — something that is unfortunately common in private takeovers.
However, more and more communities are starting to take action against this consumer rip,off, and are aiming to join the ranks with the 86 percent of Americans who receive their water from public utilities. After all, we have an essential right to safe, affordable water — a right that should never be subject to interference by private corporations.