Baltimore, MD — Today, ahead of a key vote Tuesday evening, 18 groups sent a letter urging Mayor Brandon Scott, Comptroller Bill Henry, and other officials on the Baltimore Regional Water Governance Model Work Group to preserve local control of Baltimore City’s water, sewer, and stormwater system. The work group will vote tomorrow to recommend a new governance structure for the water and wastewater system in Baltimore.

The letter, facilitated by Food & Water Watch and the Baltimore Right to Water Coalition, highlights that a regional authority would further shift the burden of future county development onto the city, deepening racial and economic inequities for the city’s 60% Black population as city residents pay more than the county’s for equal service.

The letter outlines four main demands that must be addressed in any vote by the work group:

1. Reject any form of regional authority and privatization;
2. Preserve and expand existing affordability protections; 
3. Include stormwater; and
4. Provide a Racial Equity Study for any major changes to the water system.

Jorge Aguilar, Southern Regional Director for Food & Water Watch said:

“Baltimore City must retain control of its water and sewer system if the working group is serious about addressing the inequity that’s been rampant in Baltimore’s water woes. The Mayor, Comptroller, and other work group members must protect Baltimore city’s vulnerable communities, not offload their problems to an unaccountable regional governance model that will only make things worse.”

The letter delivery comes after Food & Water Watch released a new report that surveyed the 500 largest water systems in the country serving residential customers. The report found that water bills in Maryland grew about twice as fast as the statewide median household income.

Background

Baltimore made history in 2018 by becoming the first major U.S. city to ban water privatization, but advocates warn that without strong public protections, a state-established regional authority could strike down key programs to provide water affordability credits, protect against water shutoffs, establish a Customer Advocate’s office, and prevent privatization. In 2020, water bills in Baltimore exceeded two percent of median income — the affordability threshold for water — in 131 of 200 census tracts, 108 of which were majority-Black.

Meanwhile, historically, Baltimore County has been a fierce proponent of a regionalized system, despite such a move diminishing the city’s majority-Black elected officials’ control of Baltimore’s water, giving more power to the county’s majority-white suburban leaders. The County Council passed a resolution in 2019 “urging the creation of a regional management authority to specifically address the future infrastructure needs of the county’s public water and sewer system.” A state-mandated work group has been meeting, mostly privately in subcommittees, over the last year to explore ways to restructure the system, and appears to be leaning towards creation of a regional operating model.