For-profit water companies have placed bids on Towamencin Township’s sewer system and this month, residents will have a chance to voice their concerns to township supervisors. Towamencin’s sewer system is one of many municipal public utilities in Montgomery County and across the Philadelphia suburbs that have either been at risk of takeover or have been sold to for-profit companies.

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Despite their strong public support over the past two centuries, water
systems in the U.S. are now at a moment of critical need. Many
systems have century old lead and cast iron pipes that need to be
replaced to ensure that Americans have access to safe public drinking
water in our homes, schools, and businesses. Demand for water
is only increasing alongside population growth.

Overall, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that updating
and maintaining the country’s water infrastructure needs will take
about $655 billion over the next 20 years

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The signs show the local opposition to a hostile takeover effort by Aqua Water, one of the country’s biggest private water companies, against the public utility Chester Water Authority (CWA), which owns the reservoir and bordering woodland.

The CWA relies on the watershed to provide drinking water to about 200,000 people in Delaware and Chester counties. It’s an award-winning public utility that is financially robust and delivers safe, clean and affordable water. It does not need a bailout.

Campaigners say the battle here, which started in 2017, should be a wake-up call for residents around the US, as privatization often means higher bills.

“This takeover is about putting money over people’s needs – it’s corporate greed,” said Delaware county resident Santo Mazzeo.

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“Starting in the third year and continuing through the 15th year, city residents will see their charges go up 5% each year. We figure that through the ordinary financial magic of compound interest, residents will wind up paying $980 a year for their wastewater service — about double what they pay now. And they’ll keep paying that rate, or higher thanks to other aspects of the contract, for the next 24 years.”

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The number of water providers in Pennsylvania is dwindling. The water isn’t drying up — the public utilities are, as for-profit water companies take over. In the case of Philadelphia’s suburbs, Aqua Pennsylvania reigns supreme, providing water and wastewater services to more than 1.4 million people across the state.

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A key hurdle for a Monterey Peninsula public water agency to acquire the assets of California American Water Co. was cleared Friday when a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Cal Am that the water district chief said was just one of many attempts to thwart the takeover.

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Acting state Comptroller Kevin Walsh is trying to put the brakes on the first sale of a public water system under a 2015 law, citing problems in Egg Harbor City’s review of the water system it plans to sell to New Jersey American Water for nearly $22 million.

According to the comptroller’s office, Egg Harbor City is the first municipality to use the New Jersey Water Infrastructure Protection Act to try to sell its water supply system. The law allows municipalities to sell off or lease their water systems more easily and without a public referendum — if emergent conditions such as high contaminant levels or the need for repairs exist.

Walsh’s office found that Egg Harbor City, in Atlantic County, hired an engineering firm to act as an independent financial adviser, even though the same firm had certified the existence of the conditions necessary for the sale to proceed without public referendum in the first place.

In press release,the comptroller‘s office said it “finds that allowing a municipal engineering firm to ‘wear both hats’ negates the independence expected” by law and “also denies the governing body and the public at large the opportunity to review a report from an expert in financial matters who is detached from the proposed sale of important public infrastructure.”

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City leaders are warning the Cumberland County Utilities Authority that its property tax-exempt status is in jeopardy, if it keeps pursuing an idea to surrender financial control to an investment firm in return for a lump cash sum.

The “monetization” concept surfaced, publicly, at a CCUA board meeting in June. The idea has torn apart the board, with some members cut out of initial talks with an interested equity firm.

There also is fierce pushback from authority customers, municipal governments, and workers. The major concern is that sewerage rates, already considered high, would increase with ruinous effect on rate payers.

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Aqua Pennsylvania, the Bryn Mawr company that has been buying up public utilities in the Philadelphia suburbs in recent years, is seeking to increase water bills for 445,000 customers by 17% and sewer bills by almost double that.

The combined rate increase would raise Aqua Pennsylvania’s annual revenue by $98 million, about 18%, according to an Aqua spokeswoman. In an annual report filed with the PUC, Aqua reported making net income of $188 million last year on $509 million of operating revenue.

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With the boil advisory finally lifted, Hoboken and Jersey City are looking to hold Suez accountable for its failed efforts after Hurricane Ida.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said he will work with the city council “to hold Suez accountable.” Suez is the private water provider for Jersey City and Hoboken.

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