A new report examines how private, for-profit companies have strategized to take over nonprofit water and sewer systems in Pennsylvania over the years. The findings provide context for any upcoming hearings on proposed water and sewer rate hikes being sought by Aqua — the third such request in the past seven years. In a report issued in July, an advocacy group named In the Public Interest, which describes itself as “a nonprofit research and policy center committed to the democratic control of public goods and services,” shined a light on the increasing privatization of Pennsylvania’s public water and sewer systems. Titled “Water Wars in Pennsylvania: How Corporations Play the Long Game,” the report reviews the history of public water in Pennsylvania and how many of those systems, with the help of a compliant state legislature, have been steadily bought up by for-profit companies. The primary result of all the public water and sewer system purchases in the past few decades, according to the report, is “an increasing number of Pennsylvania’s residents pay private companies for their water, and the rates are the costliest in the country; private water in Pennsylvania is 84 percent more expensive than public water,” the authors wrote, citing a 2016 survey by Food & Water Watch of 500 water suppliers nationwide. Aqua released a statement in response, “Many of our country’s municipal water and wastewater systems are in disrepair from decades of deferred maintenance — and we stand by the operational expertise we offer to these systems and our commitment to ensure safe, reliable water to our customers and communities.”
Source: Daily Times; 8/3/2024