News from the Take Back The Tap Campaign
Up one levelFood & 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.
Food & Water Watch to Host Events in Support of Water Justice Week
2009-03-12
Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., will co-sponsor a series of events across the country in observance of Water Justice Week on March 14-22 to call attention to global water justice issues. The activities will take place in Los Angeles, Calif.; New York, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Maine; and Portland, Ore., among other cities, and will promote water as a public trust and a basic human right, and educate the public about the negative effects of water privatization.
Food & Water Watch and International Coalition to Protest Corporate Control of Water Systems at World Water Forum in Istanbul
2009-03-12
Press Release: Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, along with Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and representatives of the Latin American network Red VIDA, the Asian organization Focus on the Global South, and many global allies, will protest the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, next week, March 16-22. The organizations are members of an international coalition that has come together to protest the World Water Forum’s stance on water privatization and to defend the human right to water.
World Bank Urged to Promote Public Control of Water Resources
2009-03-10
Press Release: The World Bank’s encouragement of private investment in water services harms the people living in developing nations, according to a new report released today by the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch. Dried Up, Sold Out: How the World Bank’s Push for Private Water Harms the Poor documents the many downsides of private sector control of world water infrastructure systems. Water privatization has failed to effectively deliver reliable water services to billions of people across the globe, and the social consequences of this failure include 5 million people dying every year from preventable water-related diseases.
Cash-Strapped Communities Suffer as Corporations Target Water Systems
2009-02-25
Press Release: A new report released today by Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., reveals that many cash-strapped communities across the country are experiencing rate hikes and a decrease in public services after selling their water and wastewater systems to private corporations. Money Down the Drain: How Private Control of Water Wastes Public Resources highlights cities and towns across the country that have sold their water systems to private companies to offset budget deficits in an increasingly unstable economy, and the negative economic and environmental impact of water privatization on those communities.
Food & Water Watch-Sponsored Film The Water Front Screens in NYC
2009-02-20
Press Release: Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., today sponsored a screening of The Water Front, a documentary film highlighting the negative effects of aging water systems and a Michigan community’s struggle to defend its water rights.
U.S Government Agencies Should Consider Taking Back the Tap
2009-02-05
Washington, DC—“Last week, Naturally Iowa, Inc, a distributor of bottled spring water and dairy products, announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had chosen to carry its Green Bottle Spring Water products in all of its food service locations. According to the company, Green Bottle Spring Water ‘meets specifications for quality and environmental sustainability’ because its bottle is made from corn, rather than oil.
Sale of Trenton & Township Water Will Negatively Impact Consumers:
2009-01-27
Press Release: “On Thursday the Trenton City Council moved closer to finalizing a deal to sell of its water utility to the private company American Water. The vote moves Trenton and township residents one step closer to a future condemned to excessive rate-hikes, water quality problems, limited accountability and other issues associated with private water utility ownership.
Consumers & Communities Reject Nestlé’s Extraction of Water for Profit
2009-01-14
Press Release: Concerned with the health of their local groundwater supply, environments and economies, communities across the country are successfully challenging Nestlé’s aggressive efforts to expand its water bottling operations, according to a new report by Food & Water Watch, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization.