News from the Take Back The Tap Campaign
Up one levelFood & Water Watch Applauds Effort to Close Loopholes in Great Lakes Compact
2009-06-19
Press Statement: "This week, Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI-1) introduced H. Res. 551 addressing loopholes in the Great Lakes Compact that allow for the commercial extraction of water from the lakes as long as it is placed in containers 5.7 gallons or smaller. Food & Water Watch commends Representative Stupak for this effort to prevent the commercialization of this vital natural resource and urges Congress to adopt this resolution.
Food & Water Watch Joins With Local Groups to Oppose Potential Privatization of Milwaukee’s Water System
2009-06-15
Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group, today joined forces with the Keep Public Our Water (KPOW) coalition at a rally at City Hall to call on the Milwaukee Common Council to pass a resolution permanently suspending the proposal to lease Milwaukee’s Water Works and conclude its inquiry into privatizing the city’s water system. Faced with budget pressures, the city of Milwaukee had been considering leasing its water utility to a private company for 75 to 99 years in return for a one-time payment of up to $550 million to $600 million dollars. In addition to Food & Water Watch, Members of the KPOW coalition include AFSME Council 48; Campaign Against Violence; Midwest Environmental Advocates; Milwaukee Inner City Communities Allied for Hope; Milwaukee Renaissance; Milwaukee Riverkeeper; Water Works Local #952 and the Wisconsin League of Voters.
Lease of Milwaukee Water System Would Require Public Referendum
2009-06-10
Press Release: Washington, D.C.—Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization, presented to Milwaukee Common Council legal precedence indicating that the proposed lease of Milwaukee’s water system to a private company must be subject to a citywide referendum. According to Food & Water Watch analysis, Wisconsin state statute section 66.0817 (4) indicates that “prior to a city consummating a proposed agreement to lease a public utility it owns, the ‘proposal shall be submitted to the electors of the municipality[,]’ to be determined be a majority.” Food & Water Watch submitted this finding today in a letter to the Milwaukee Common Council President Willie L. Hines.
Food & Water Watch and Local Activists Halt Privatization of Milwaukee Water System
2009-06-02
Press Statement: “On Friday, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Common Council announced that it will put on hold plans to privatize the city’s drinking water system. In May, Food & Water Watch worked with a broad range of local groups to form the Keep Public Our Water (KPOW) coalition to stop the privatization. Food & Water Watch applauds the Council’s decision and urges the City of Milwaukee to permanently abandon this potential privatization.
New FDA Steps to Prevent Bacterial Contamination in Bottled Water Good, But Not Good Enough
2009-05-29
Press Statement: “This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is amending its bottled water regulations to implement stricter standards regarding the testing of bottled water for the e.coli bacteria. Although Food & Water Watch supports FDA’s move to protect the public from e.coli, this amendment is not enough. Despite the issuance of this rule, FDA still does not require bottled water to be tested once it has been bottled. While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains strict standards for ensuring the safety of tap water, FDA has been less stringent in its oversight of the bottled water industry.
New Food & Water Watch Study Reveals Privatized Water Systems Result in Job Losses
2009-05-20
Press Release: New analysis released today by the national consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch finds that privatizing municipal water systems threatens jobs and negatively affects local economies. Water Privatization Threatens Workers, Consumers and Local Economies finds that while multinational corporations often claim to reduce operational costs, they do so by cutting corners, downsizing essential employees, decreasing salaries and impeding union activity.
Trenton Water Sale Reversal a Victory for Local Consumers
2009-05-19
Press Statement: “This week, Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg agreed to reassess an earlier decision to allow the sale of a portion of Trenton, New Jersey’s water utility to American Water. The announcement is a significant victory for activists who have been fighting the privatization of Trenton’s water works and will clear the way for a citizen vote on the issue.
Water Infrastructure Financing Act Benefits Corporations at the Expense of Taxpayers
2009-05-14
Press Statement: "Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved S.1005, the Water Infrastructure Financing Act. The bill contains language that would, for the first time, allow private wastewater utilities access to funding from the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF). This proposed change to the law would essentially allow private wastewater utilities to benefit from public funding. The burden of this modification, however, would ultimately fall on consumers, because private wastewater utilities charge customers as much as 80% more than do their public counterparts. Under this bill, consumers would be left to subsidize these utilities through both taxes and higher user rates.
Food & Water Watch Lauds New York State’s Rejection of Bottled Water
2009-05-07
Press Statement: This week, New York Governor David A. Paterson signed an Executive Order to phase out the state’s purchase and use of bottled water in State agency facilities. Food & Water Watch applauds Governor Paterson’s actions and his demonstrated commitment to protecting the one of our most vital natural resources.
Water for the World Act of 2009 Well-Meaning, But Flawed
2009-04-23
Washington, D.C.—“While the efforts of Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.) set forth in the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2009 are well-intended, the legislation is deeply flawed. This act sets the goal of providing 100 million of the world’s poorest with sustainable drinking water and sanitation by 2015. Press Statement: Inadequate drinking and waste water infrastructure is a serious problem, one that plagues millions of people in developing nations and accounts for some 2 million deaths each year. While the act attempts to mitigate these problems, if passed, it will further enable the role of private investment in public drinking and waste water infrastructure in developing nations.
Food & Water Watch Highlights Importance of Clean, Affordable Water for All on Earth Day
2009-04-16
Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., will co-sponsor a series of events in observance of Earth Day to draw attention to the importance of clean, affordable public water systems and the social and environmental benefits of choosing tap water over bottled water. The events will take place in Washington, D.C.; New York, N.Y.; San Diego, Calif. and Waterville, Maine, among other cities.
Cap-and-Trade for Water: A Bad Idea for People and the Planet
2009-04-16
Press Statement: “Yesterday, the CEO of Climate Exchange PLC trotted out the incredibly bad idea to, essentially, apply the flawed model of carbon cap-and-trade markets to water. The head of the UK-based company that made millions of dollars last year from its business facilitating carbon trading wants to take this scheme that has failed to reduce emissions of climate changing carbon gas and apply it to water extraction rights from the Great Lakes, according to an interview titled, “Water cap and trade,” posted yesterday on Global Dashboard: Notes from the Future.
Food & Water Watch-Sponsored Bottled Water Legislation Passes State Assembly Committee
2009-03-24
Press Release: A bill that would provide critical information about the impact of the bottled water industry today passed out of the California State Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials. Authored by Assembly Member Felipe Fuentes and sponsored by the national consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch, Assembly Bill 301 would require bottled water corporations to disclose the volume and source of water they extract and whether that source is publicly or privately owned.
Food & Water Watch-Sponsored Film Blue Gold Screens at Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C.
2009-03-20
Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group, today sponsored a screening of Blue Gold: World Water Wars at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C. The new award-winning documentary film exposes how corporate giants, private investors and corrupt governments are vying for control of the world’s depleting fresh water supply. Food & Water Watch Board Chair Maude Barlow and Executive Director Wenonah Hauter both appear in the film to denounce corporate water privatization and offer solutions for addressing world water shortages.
Food & Water Watch and International Coalition Protest World Water Forum in Istanbul
2009-03-19
Press Release: Senior Advisor to the United Nations General Assembly and Food & Water Watch Board Chair Maude Barlow, along with advocates from an international coalition on water justice issues, today denounced the World Water Forum’s position on water privatization and defended public access to clean, safe water as a human right. Conceived as a counter-event to the World Water Forum, today’s protest opposed the forum’s support of the privatization of municipal water systems and urged the United Nations to take a greater role in delivering water to populations in developing nations.
Democratic Forum Demands Public Water For All
2009-03-19
Press Release: International water justice activists converged at the People’s Water Forum today to affirm the human right to water and present diverse visions of existing public and community-led water management practices that protect water for people and nature, and can ensure water access for all regardless of their ability to pay.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Water Study Flawed, Shortsighted
2009-03-19
Press Statement: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD)’s new report Managing Water for All recycles the same tried and failed market-based solutions to the problem of ensuring, as the UN recognized in 2002, “The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity.” While the OECD recognizes the dire scope of the problem and the additional climate change risks going forward, the report fails to provide new leadership on these vital questions. The OECD promotes several dubious solutions to the lack of access to drinking water faced by 1 billion people and sanitation services faced by 2.5 billion people.
Food & Water Watch Calls on Obama Administration to Defend Human Right to Water
2009-03-18
Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., today called on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Obama Administration to recognize water as a human right and to assert new leadership in global water policy. U.S. representatives recently played a key role in removing language from the 5th World Water Forum ministerial declaration that supported the human right to water.
Food & Water Watch Opposes Decision Denying Trenton Citizen Participation in the Future of Their Water
2009-03-17
Press Statement: “Sadly, a New Jersey state judge yesterday invalidated a Trenton citizen petition that would have opened the door to residents voting on whether to put part of the city’s drinking water system into private hands.
Food & Water Watch Denounces Violent Suppression of Protestors at World Water Forum
2009-03-16
Press Statement: Earlier today, Turkish police violently attacked a peaceful protest by water activists convened to oppose the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul. Protesters were assaulted with rubber bullets, water cannons and gas and a number of them were arrested. Food & Water Watch denounces the appalling actions of the Turkish police and sees them as sadly emblematic of the undemocratic nature of the World Water Forum.