Selling Out Our Water
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated a $22 billion annual shortfall between the funds that are currently available, and what is needed to provide our communities with clean, safe water. President Bush has been cutting federal funds in recent years, and now, in his 2008 budget, he recommends funding water infrastructure through expanded use of private activity bonds.
About 86 percent of U.S. water utilities are publicly owned and managed, but private activity bonds are not available to those utilities. To use private activity bonds, communities must privatize publicly-owned water utilities or engage in public private partnerships. Not only will such bonds be available only to a minority of U.S. water utilities, they provide government subsidies to private companies. And President Bush‚ plan places decision-making power about our water in the hands of corporations and private equity firms.
The gap between public infrastructure needs and public funding should not be used as a pretext to shift control of water resources and infrastructure from the public to private sector. There is no evidence that the private sector can deliver a better and more efficient service than the public sector. From California to Georgia’s privatization has raised the cost of drinking water and sewage services and lowered the quality of customer service.
There is already a large funding shortfall. We should not give more public money away in the form of handouts for private profit. Private firms will pocket the subsidies in the form of profits, rather than reinvesting the money they save back into the community and water infrastructure. Instead we should provide public funding for public utilities, which provide most of America’s water.
Water is a public trust. We need a dedicated public funding source to fill the gap.
Taxpayer dollars should not be diverted from public utilities to support private water companies and their investors.
Take Action
- Tell Congress not to give tax breaks for private profit.
- Learn more about private financing for the water sector in Private Financing for Water Infrastructure.