To register for the webinar, visit: https://fwwat.ch/WaterWars
In July of this year, In the Public Interest released the report “Pennsylvania Water Wars: How Corporations Play the Long Game.” In it, we laid out the strategies corporations have used to seize control over local public water systems, and we also highlighted some of the methods community members have used to fight back.
The report was very timely, it turns out. Last week, local community organizers across Pennsylvania won major victories to protect public control of their wastewater systems, while Chester Water Authority faced a new threat: a wildly unpopular water grab by a state-imposed receiver for the city of Chester.
On Wednesday, Towamencin Township and Pennsylvania American Water, the state arm of the nation’s largest water corporation, announced they were abandoning the effort to privatize the public sewer system of Towamencin Township, after years of successful organizing by Towamencin Neighbors Opposing Privatization Efforts (NOPE). In 2022, the township voted to sell the sewer system to NextEra for $115 million. In 2023, NextEra backed out of the deal and American Water assumed it. NOPE led a ballot campaign to rewrite the municipal charter, making sewer privatization illegal in the township. The township board will vote on September 11 to officially terminate the scheme.
On Tuesday evening, the North Versailles Township Sanitary Authority confirmed the cancellation of a proposed sale of its sewer assets to Aqua Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of Essential Utilities. In December 2023, the sanitary authority had unanimously voted to approve the sale for $25 to 30 million. The turnaround came after months of organic community-led opposition to the sale. Since June, dozens of residents have been packing the township commission and authority meetings to urge the cancellation of the scheme.
But the bad news came on Monday, August 26, 2024, when the receiver for the City of Chester filed an updated plan in the bankruptcy court, outlining an intention to monetize the water assets of Chester Water Authority (CWA), the city portion of the DELCORA, and the Stormwater Authority of Chester, and dissolve the CWA. Chester-area residents have been fighting the privatization of their water system for more than seven years. This new filing opens the door to a long-term concession contract of the assets or a future sale. Residents and local leaders have opposed the move as another water grab and are urging Governor Shapiro to drop this plan.
On September 17, 2024, at 7 pm eastern, In the Public Interest, Keep Water Affordable, Save Chester Water Authority, NOPE, Food & Water Watch, and Freshwater Future are hosting a webinar to illuminate the recent developments in water privatization. Following a brief overview of the new report, a panel of leaders in the campaigns to prevent the corporate takeover of water resources will review the ways in which corporations used their resources to pass legislation wildly favorable to their interests, including the privatization-paving Act 12 in Pennsylvania, and the ways community activists studied, organized, fought back, and won.
To register for the webinar, visit: https://fwwat.ch/WaterWars