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waterindustry.org Oct. 27, 2004 The key issues are whether utilities
managed by profit-driven private companies will deliver healthful water,
and whether rates charged customers will go up or down. There also can
be questions about funding of needed improvements to protect against
terrorist attacks; loss of control to an international corporation or
international trade agreements; and corruption, operational
transparency, and job losses.
In the US, the water privatization business has
grown an average of 19% over the past 7 years, and today about 15% of
the population gets its water from a system that's privately owned or
operated, says the National
Assn. of Water Companies (Louis
Jenny, 202-833-0139).
NAWC says more than 92% of water utilities with
some form of private ownership or management have renewed their
contracts since 1998, indicating the concept is working. But major
controversies in the past few years (Atlanta; New Orleans; Indianapolis;
Pekin, IL; Hamilton, Ontario; Puerto Rico; etc.), including some
canceled contracts, have made many people question the idea.
A few of the latest battles have been resolved for
the moment at local government meetings (e.g., Lee,
MA) while others are winding their way through ballot boxes or
courts of law and public opinion (e.g., Lexington,
KY; Stockton,
CA; Felton, CA).
Other battles are shaping up in the US Congress,
where private water companies continue to push for changes in funding
(more low-cost loans and fewer grants), regulations and tax laws
(removing or raising caps on how many "private activity" bonds
can be issued in a state), and incentives (requiring public utilities to
consider privatization in the process of acquiring federal subsidies
through the Drinking
Water State Revolving Fund, or DWSRF).
Negotiations over the long-stalled reauthorization
of the DWSRF, which has been funded in stopgap fashion in recent years
at flat levels, despite EPA assessments of huge shortfalls (up to $500
billion) over the next 20 years, may move forward in the next Congress.
There are hundreds of private water companies
operating in North America. Many are subsidiaries of international
corporations. A few of the largest players include:
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