August, 21 2008, 12:00am EDT
Food & Water Watch, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay Issue Call for Water Trust Fund
Gift of 5,000 Reusable Water Bottles Demonstrates Commitment to Public Tap Water
WASHINGTON
On Wednesday, Food & Water Watch joined St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay in providing 5,000 reusable drinking water bottles to City employees, banning the purchase of bottled water by city departments, and issuing a call for a federal trust fund for water infrastructure. The actions marked the City's leadership in a nationwide effort to provide safe and affordable drinking water through increased federal funding of public water systems.
"Each year we fall more than $20 billion short of what is needed to maintain America's public water and sewer systems," said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. "U.S. water infrastructure-invisible under our homes and businesses-has suffered decades of neglect. Congress needs to act now to protect our nation's water by establishing a dedicated source of public funding so that communities across America can keep their water clean, safe and affordable."
"Around the world, billions of people do not have access to clean drinking water," said Mayor Slay. "Even in the United States, some places face chronic shortages of clean water that require rationing. We need a Federal Trust Fund for water infrastructure. "
Food & Water Watch partnered with the City of St. Louis in calling for a trust fund because of the national attention the City has received for the quality of its drinking water. Last year the U.S. Conference of Mayors awarded St. Louis the title "Best Tasting City Water in America" out of 93 competing cities.
The City used its $5,000 award prize to purchase the water bottles as a way to encourage use of public tap water over bottled water, which is no cleaner, safer or healthier than tap water. The mayor also signed an executive order banning the purchase of bottled water by city departments.
"We applaud Mayor Slay and the City of St. Louis for their commitment to promoting the consumption of tap water over bottled water," said Hauter. "Water is a vital resource, critical for all of us, not a commodity to be seized and sold for corporate profit. Even while U.S. communities suffer from lack of federal support in maintaining their water systems, cities like St. Louis still provide high quality public tap water that is a better alternative to bottled water," said Hauter.
The Corporate Accountability International also echoed the call for residents and
businesses to use public tap water instead of bottled water.
"Bottled water corporations are convincing cities and individuals that the only place to get clean, safe water is from a bottle, said Gigi Kellett, National Director of the Think Outside the Bottle campaign. "But the bottom line is that water is a basic human right. When it is treated as a commodity, our democracy, health and environment suffers."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
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'Shameful': Columbia Greenlights Police Crackdown on Anti-War Encampment
Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
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"Correct," replied Shafik.
On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
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According to Bloomberg:
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@StateDept In 2023, we documented Israel counter-terrorism YAMAM unit\u2019s abuses, including two extrajudicial killings & two indiscriminate and reckless killings, including of a child in Jenin in March 2023, constituting gross violations of human rights under Leahy Law & war crimes under Rome\u2026— (@)
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