Private, for-profit corporations are increasingly buying public water utilities across the United States.
What is at stake when water systems are purchased by private companies? Affordable water, loss of public assets and local governance!
Privately owned water systems on average charge 59 percent more than their publicly owned counterparts. This makes private ownership the single largest factor associated with higher water bills—more significant than aging infrastructure or drought. Public water utilities own significant assets, with decades or centuries of investment from tax-payers. Once a system is privatized, these investments are lost.
Last year, an advisory council to the White House, issued a report that recommended making it even easier to privatize the nation's water systems. Representatives on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) that wrote the report, includes several private water utility interests. Public water utilities in the United States should not be for sale.
Sign this pledge to tell your legislators, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, and President Biden that:
- Water must remain under public control
- Privatization has no place in the future of our water infrastructure
- All recommendations to privatize the nation's water systems MUST NOT be acted upon!
