Cash-Strapped Communities Suffer as Corporations Target Water Systems

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.

"Private companies claim that they provide more efficient service and
that they can upgrade systems at a lower cost than their public
counterparts," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food &
Water Watch. "Such claims are nothing but spin. Private water companies
are beholden to shareholders, not the customers who rely on them for
this vital natural resource. The delivery of public water should never
be a profit center for privately held corporations."

Highlights of Money Down the Drain: How Private Control of Water Wastes Public Resources include:

• State-by-state comparisons of public and private water bills that
  reveal that private companies charge consumers as much as 80 percent
  more for water and 100 percent more for wastewater services than their
  public counterparts.
• How private companies inflate costs, cut corners to profit
  shareholders and ignore environmentally sustainable practices that
  might undercut profits.
• That private water companies target water systems in poor,
  vulnerable communities with little political capacity to oppose the
  sale of their water.
• Case studies of communities in Ohio, Indiana, California, Florida,
  Pennsylvania and elsewhere that have been negatively impacted by
  privatization and/or have canceled service contracts with private
  entities to provide better service to consumers.
• Food & Water Watch's solutions to local and national water
  infrastructure challenges, including the need for dedicated federal
  funding for water and wastewater systems.

Money Down the Drain: How Private Control of Water Wastes Public Resources is available at: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/money-down-the-drain.