Knox, PA

When Carol Weaver learned that her city council was considering selling the local water system to a private company, she and her neighbors got together and formed Knox Friends of Locally Owned Water, or Knox FLOW. As a former mayor and city council member, Carol knew how to get the attention of elected officials. She [...]

Analysis of Newark’s Water Optimization Plan

Newark‚ proposal to lease its water and sewage systems to a private entity poses a serious threat to consumer interests. At a time when utility regulators are being subjected to great scrutiny for their inability to effectively represent citizen interests, Newark is proposing to radically limit public oversight of its most important city service. The [...]

Emmaus, PA

Emmaus residents did not waste any time halting water privatization. In fact, their battle began before any private water corporations could move in and establish a foothold for expansion in Pennsylvania‚ Lehigh Valley. Council members began discussing privatization efforts without public knowledge in 2005. Treating the issue as a real estate matter, the council was [...]

Lee, MA

The town of Lee now has a new wastewater treatment plant that will keep raw sewage from flowing into the Housatonic River during storms and will protect the town’s water.

Newark, NJ

In order to prevent the city‚ water system from entering into a fiscal crisis, former Newark, New Jersey Mayor Sharpe James proposed selling water utilities to the Newark Infrastructure Management Corporation (NIMAC). But citizens of Newark were not so easily persuaded to forgo control over their water system for a financial crisis that the Mayor [...]

St. Louis

Sewage Spills. While unpleasant, sewage spills are a common sight in St. Louis, whose outdated and dilapidated sewage system, dating back to the 19th century, serves about 1.4 million custom-ers and covers the entire city and 90 percent of the county. •    Lawsuit. In 2007, EPA sued the St. Louis metropolitan sewer district last summer, [...]

Ft. Wayne, IN

When a portion of the residents in Fort Wayne, Indiana became fed up with receiving consistently poor water services from private provider Aqua Indiana, they turned to their own public water utility for a solution.

For some time residents in the northern part of the city‚ an area served by Aqua Indiana, a subsidiary of Aqua America‚ had been plagued by poor water service. While residents elsewhere were receiving reliable service from the city‚ public utility, complaints in Fort Wayne‚ northern region were 250% greater than in some nearby service areas.

O’Fallon, MO

It was a few hours before the city council meeting in OFallon, Missouri‚Äîacross the Missouri River from St. Louis‚when Sister Carol Boschert first heard that the OFallon city council was considering selling its public water system to a private corporation. Wasting no time, Sister Carol made her way to the meeting, research in hand, and [...]

Indianapolis, IN

In 2002, the Indianapolis Water Company (IWC) was put up for sale. With the sale of the company to Veolia, citizens hoped the deal would at least mean a solution to a summer algae problem. But they had not seen anything yet. Since 2002, Indianapolis residents have seen a range of negative effects of water [...]

Urbana, IL

Laurel Prussing, the mayor of Urbana, IL has learned that it is easier for a foreign corporation to purchase a local water system than it is for a local government to do so. But dont think that will stop her. The water system in Urbana, IL has been privately owned for over 100 years. The [...]

The Price of Privatization: Stockton CA

What may be the most notorious water privatization deal in the United States came to a close July 17, 2007 when the Stockton city council decided against appealing a judge‚ ruling that its contract with OMI-Thames Water had violated California environmental law. For four years, the Concerned Citizens Coalition of Stockton waged a grassroots campaign that culminated in a legal victory to defeat the privatization of their municipal water utility. The company must now return control of the utility to Stockton, effective March 2008.

Cave Creek, AZ

Why settle for the status quo? This is what local leaders in the small southwest town of Cave Creek, AZ, must have asked themselves when they decided that their privately owned and operated water utility was not doing the job. Cave Creek water system had always been privately owned and operated. Unsatisfied with the service [...]

Orcas Highlands, WA

Never underestimate the will of a community—even a small one—to fight for local control of its water resources. Few places demonstrate this better than the tiny community of Orcas Highlands in Washington State. For years, Orcas Highlands residents received their water through Rosario Utilities, a small, privately owned company. However, when Washington Water Services—a subsidiary [...]

The Fight for Public Water in Felton, California

The people of Felton, California learned that they had successfully wrested control of their water from the clutches of a giant corporation on Friday, May 30, 2008. (Read our press release here.) Many of the 3,000 adult residents of the Felton Water District had been organizing for nearly six years to buy the community‚ water [...]

Montara, CA

“If we were the first domino, then good,” said Scott Boyd, who became president of Montara‚ water board after leading the community effort for local control of water. After suffering for years from high rates, poor service, and neglect under private ownership, residents of the small town of Montara, just south of San Francisco, purchased [...]

Lexington, KY

The water company in Lexington, KY, is for sale. However, its owner (RWE/American Water, the third largest water corporation in the world) refuses to sell it to one potential buyer , the users. Lexington utilities were sold to RWE in January 2002. Dissatisfied with company performance and private ownership, Bluegrass FLOW, or Bluegrass For Local [...]

Atlanta, GA

In August 2002, citizens of Atlanta, GA, fed up with Suez-owned United Water, gave an ultimatum: turn it around in 90 days or get out. While the contract, which began in 1999, had a history of scandal, ultimately it was performance that doomed United Water.

New Orleans, LA

The proposed water privatization in New Orleans was predicted to be the largest water contract in the nation when proposed in 2000. With two of big water‚ heavy hitters, Vivendi (now Veolia) and Suez, vying to profit from New Orleans‚ water, the deal was predicted to secure them $1.5 billion over the next 20 years. [...]