Corporate win: WI set to sell local public water systems

[Updated 1/28/16, 11:45 a.m., from 1/27/16, 7:17 p.m. Further updated 12:24 a.m. 1/29/16, 1/31/16, 1:06 a.m. and 2/7, 5:55 p.m.]

Bizarre and damning enough that Wisconsin is tolerating well water pollution, but now right-wing ideologues at the State Capitol are about to intentionally commit yet another FUBAR when it comes to undermining drinking water safety: 

The corporate-obeisant GOP-controlled Wisconsin State Senate is poised in committee Thursday to join the Assembly's shameful initiative and enable local governments to sell their water systems to out-of-state, private-sector businesses, proving that Bucky has learned nothing from Flint's water travails, and the consequences of losing control of its drinking water system and supply and flushing it down the drain.

Key language from the bill text:

The bill applies to the proposed sale or lease of a municipal water or sewer utility and does not affect proposals involving other types of utilities. Also, the bill applies only to sales or leases to investor-owned public utilities. Under the bill, a referendum on the proposed sale or lease is not required unless, within 30 days after the municipality adopts the ordinance or resolution required under current law, a petition requesting the referendum is filed with the municipal clerk. The petition must be signed by a number of the municipality's qualified electors that is at least 25 percent of the votes cast in the municipality for governor in the last general election. If a petition is not filed within that deadline, no referendum is required and the municipality must submit the proposal to the PSC. If a referendum is held due to the filing of a petition within the deadline and a majority approves the proposal, the municipality must submit the proposal to the PSC for approval.

And you need a wider lens to see the updated, bigger picture here and then, also, here.

Sunday update - - The Wisconsin League of Conservation voters has weighed in with a strong statement in opposition, as has Clean Wisconsin, and others.

Saturday update - - The bill was written at the request of a Pennsylvania company which already controls 200 systems in eight states, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Friday update - - Note these details in this Wisconsin State Journal report:

The proposal, scheduled for a vote in a state Senate committee Thursday, would make a public referendum on the sale of water and sewage disposal systems optional instead of mandatory as is currently the case.

And if residents gathered enough signatures to force a vote, it would take place before the terms and conditions of a sale are known...

The legislation was introduced at the request of a private water and sewer corporation based in Pennsylvania that may wish to acquire water utilities here, said Rep. Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, the proposal’s lead author.

An excellent analysis here, and a big national picture story here, and more from Milwaukee Riverkeeper, here:

Access to critical water services, such as clean drinking water and effective sewer systems, are at risk as private companies vie for control over our public water supplies. AB 554/SB 432 makes it possible for communities to transfer water utility management from the public sector to the private sector, which means out-of-state and potentially multi-national companies will assume control of our public water supplies with less oversight. 

Water privatization most often leads to declining quality of service, higher water rates, less accountability and oversight (private companies do not face elections or have to share information), and a loss of public sector jobs.

Not just across the country, but across the entire globe, water privatization has failed to increase the access to or quality of water supplies for communities time and time again. AB 554/SB 432 is now threatening to do the same in Wisconsin.

For more information on water privatization, check out the website from Food and Water Watch’s Water Privatization: Facts and Figures.

And remember the financial disasters when parking and road tolls were privatized in the midwest by wrong-headed politicians who left taxpayers with even bigger bills. 

Beware the siren song...including the notion that the WI DNR would be a strong monitor, which right now is a joke.