KPOW: Protect public water

Dear Editor,

The Milwaukee Water Works drinking-water system is one of the best in the nation. Our water is clean and inexpensive. We are situated on the most bountiful source of freshwater on the globe. But in a desperate response to our city’s financial crisis, the Milwaukee Common Council is considering giving up control of our city’s most valuable and essential resource: our water.

KPOW, a coalition of local organizations that stands for Keep Public Our Water, stresses that the privatization of our city’s most critical resource is not the way to solve the city’s financial problems. Bay View residents are on board-over 200 people rallied at City Hall in June to show alderpersons that their constituents would not tolerate the loss of control of the future of our water. Residents cited rate increases of up to 200 percent, decline in water quality, and system deterioration as classic marks of privatization in other cities.

After the rally, the Milwaukee Common Council’s Steering and Rules Committee voted June 15 to put on hold a proposal to hire an advisor to help the city solicit multinational corporate bidders for a 99-year lease of the Milwaukee Water Works. While that action will in theory stall the effort to privatize Milwaukee’s drinking water, alderpersons have made it clear that the proposal may resurface very soon. And Milwaukee residents are not sitting easy.

Over 60 people met with Third District Alderman Nik Kovac in August at the Urban Ecology Center to ask him to sponsor a resolution stating that the city of Milwaukee will continue to own and operate the Milwaukee Water Works as a public entity and will not privatize the water utility in any manner, nor lease the utility’s operations to any private entity either through a concession or management lease.

Kovac told the group that he would work with KPOW to sponsor the resolution. He is currently in the process of getting the resolution scheduled for a committee hearing where a vote can take place. It is important that the council pass this resolution to send a clear message to the citizens of Milwaukee and members of Mayor Barrett’s administration that the Common Council is not interested in pursuing privatization of the water system as a mechanism to solve the city’s financial problems.

As Milwaukee leaders work to solve the city’s mounting budget problem, they should consider an array of ideas and solutions. However, giving up public control of Milwaukee’s most precious public resource, water, should not be one of them. We have built one of the highest rated public water systems in the country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has endorsed Milwaukee’s drinking water quality as among the highest in the nation. The plan Milwaukee’s leaders are now considering, however, puts that distinction at risk by giving one private company control of our entire water operation for the next 99 years in return for general operating revenue.

For decades, public control and ownership of Milwaukee’s water operations has resulted in a system that reflects our values and priorities. We’ve decided to put a premium on water quality, access, and cost efficiency, which has made our city a national leader. Handing over control to a private company will surrender Milwaukee’s water to a vastly different set of priorities. In the hands of a private corporation, we will have little say and little ability to make sure that our values don’t take a back seat to a company’s profits and the bottom line.

In these tough economic times, we need to be able to trust our elected officials to safeguard our most essential resource to life and future economic growth in Milwaukee by keeping Milwaukee Water Works publicly owned.

KPOW is urging you to call your alderperson at 286-2221 to express your views on this critical issue. For more information and to get involved, contact KPOW using the information below.

Corinne Rosen, KPOW

Corinne Rosen is a Milwaukee resident and member of KPOW, a diverse coalition of Milwaukee area organizations working together to fight the privatization of Milwaukee’s Water Works. The coalition includes environmental groups, neighborhood associations, faith-based organizations, civic activists, unions, youth groups, and other concerned citizens. To get involved, email corinnerosen@yahoo.com or call (414) 460-3389.

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