Baltimore, MD – Today, the Baltimore Right to Water Coalition delivered demands to the members of the Baltimore Regional Water Governance Task Force ahead of its first meeting. 

The Task Force has four months to recommend a new governance model for the City’s largest asset, the water and sewer system. 

The letter calls on the Task Force to conduct racial and economic equity analyses of each governance model under consideration. Since February, the coalition has called for greater due diligence during this process. 

The letter further calls on the Task Force to reject any form of water privatization, including private operation and management contracts. In an opinion piece on Tuesday, the Mayor and County Executive have committed to public ownership of the system, but advocates are demanding full public operation and management. 

“We are encouraged that the Mayor and County Executive have said they want to retain public ownership, but the Task Force members must also reject private operation and management of our essential water and sewer services,” said Jomar Lloyd, Baltimore organizer with Food & Water Watch. “These privatization contracts, called public-private partnerships, can lead to cost cutting practices that jeopardize water quality and service. Private operators may seek to boost their profits by using shoddy construction materials, delaying needed maintenance or downsizing the workforce – taking away union jobs from City residents. Baltimore’s water should be for the people, not for profit.”

“Baltimore is already working to address a water affordability crisis which has had a disproportionate and detrimental impact on the City’s Black neighborhoods,” said David Wheaton, Economic Justice Policy Fellow with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “Hastily rushing to establish a new governance model without proper public engagement and without doing critical analyses on how a new model will affect Black residents and low-income ratepayers risks undermining this progress and creating even greater disparities.”

“The Task Force’s analysis of new governance systems has the opportunity to profoundly impact the majority of Baltimoreans,” said Courtland Merkel, Consumer and Housing Staff Attorney with Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.  “As we know, water affordability disproportionately affects Black Baltimore residents. So, it is vital that the Task Force decide on a governance model that will serve the people of Baltimore best. Therefore, if the Task Force truly wants to serve Baltimoreans, they must instruct the consultants to perform a racial equity study of the governance model chosen.”