- World Water Day NJ American Water protest (3/22/11)
In light of World Water Day, the NJ Coalition on Privatization held a rally today opposing privatization of public drinking water systems.
The 2011 World Water Day theme is “Water for Cities – Responding to the Urban Challenge“
The rally was held at the NJ American Water Headquarters in Voorhees, NJ.
NJ PEER sees access to clean, plentiful, and affordable water as a fundamental human right and ecological necessity.
As competition for increasingly scarce clean water increases, we are concerned about both the human and ecological worlds.
We oppose profiteering private corporations gaining even more control over this vital resource and critical infrastructure – and the economic ripoffs of monopoly control of consumers and workers that are likely to follow.Â
We we fear a lack of adequate clean water to sustain ecological functions, resulting from pollution and the diversion of an increasing share of available water to human uses.
These conflicts (AKA “water wars“) will only increase as 1) global warming increases the frequency and severity of droughts, 2) as the natural water cycle is modified by increasing land development/landscape change, and 3) as population increases and water demand grows.
And we are concerned that private corporations will pursue profits over costly treatment required to provide safe and healthy water to people.
For these reasons, we are a member of the Coalition and an opponent of privatization of essential public services.
So we went to Voorheese today to support our coalition partners, especially our friends at Utilities Local Union of America 395 out of Shrewsbury, who are engaged in a contract dispute with NJ American Water.
Here are some photos of the event.
As someone who has worked with both public and private water companies, I don’t agree that private water companies are really the problem. In my experience, there are many municipally run water systems (esp. in smaller towns) who do not allocate the necessary resources to maintain and upgrade the infrastructure at a level to prevent problems and ensure longevity of the system. So even though their water still meets drinking water standards, the infrastructure needs much improvement and money. Money that needs to be spent on many other things in a town’s budget.
Private water companies often have a much more long term approach with their infrastructure and are much more proactive about upgrading and improving. I don’t mind paying for that. The water, sewer, gas, etc infrastructure in this country is in terrible shape and needs billions to get to an acceptable level. Also, all water rates must go through the BPU, so a water company can’t just increase rates as they wish.
Honestly, I think the bottled water companies are the real “enemy” in the water wars. The amount of oil required to produce the bottles and deliver it to stores is tremendous. And 75% of these bottles are not recycled and end up in landfills or as litter. And the water in the bottle doesn’t require nearly the same testing as tap water.
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