American Water Articles

American Water issues:

Public Citizen and Food and Water Watch have been investigating the tactics of American Water and other multinational corporations attempts to privatize water systems across the United States.    

• Backgrounder on American Water and the cities affected by their privatization.

• U.S Mayors' Joint Statement to RWE: A letter to RWE urging the corporationto allow interested municipalities to negotiate the purchase of their water utilities before RWE proceeds with an IPO for American Water.

• The Problem: When RWE purchased American Water in 2003, CEO Harry Roels made a commitment that RWE would be a long-term partner with the communities his corporation serves. Less than three years later, RWE is saying Auf Wiedersehen: the company is selling American Water, leaving communities in 27 U.S. states and 3 Canadian provinces in the dark about the future of their water utilities after siphoning nearly $150 million through often drastic rate increases. So far, RWE and American Water executives have refused to negotiate with elected officials and citizens.

• Report on AW. Excerpt...Perhaps most unsettling, under RWEs ownership, American Water has engaged in a pattern of political and legal maneuvering most notably in Lexington, Kentucky, where the corporation worked to defeat a local effort to return the citys water system to public ownership. Many other communities have mounted campaigns to reassume non-profit, local ownership, including Felton, California; Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

• Excerpt: City officials are usually only exposed to one side of the privatization story  one presented by the private companies and the industry consultants. However, the company’s marketing materials are biased in favor of privatization and do not provide an objective assessment. Although some cities have had positive experiences with short-term operation contracts, others have not. And the long-term contracts are still an experiment in progress, because not one has lasted longer than 5 years. The largest such contract in Atlanta was rescinded in January 2003, as the promised savings failed to materialize and the company failed to live up to its contractual obligations.

• Very interesting story about the lobbying efforts for privatization from city level to federal level.

• This is an action by a German shareholders organization criticizing AWs actions.

• Equipment manufacturing trade group lobbying Fed/State govs for stricter standards to improve profitability of their industry. Excerpt: Key regulations in 2006 will include implementation of the microbials/disinfection byproducts rules and ground water rule, as well as development of rules governing industrial effluent guidelines for drinking water facilities and airport deicing operations. WWEMA will also maintain an active role in working with EPA on water security plans, and will seek opportunities to shape state rules promoting value-based procurement practices. . WWEMA will work vigorously to shape legislation that promotes full cost of-service rates. (conditions ratepayers to pay more)

• News article: excerpt...However, the controversy surrounding the privatization deal has always been about more than the environment. Opponents said the way in which it was approved - it was signed 13 days before voters approved a measure that would have required a public vote on the water deal - was evidence of then-Mayor Gary Podesto's heavy-handed style.

• Concerned Citizens Coalition of Stockton website

• More background on Stockton case.