A Big Win Against Corporate Control of Water

[marmar]

from In These Times, via AlterNet:


A Big Win Against Corporate Control of Water

By Megan Tady, In These Times. Posted August 4, 2007.



In the battle over whether the people or corporations should control public water, residents of Stockton, Calif., won a huge victory over a multinational but other localities remain threatened.

Bill Lokyo never expected to find himself embroiled in a six-year battle over water with a multinational corporation and city officials in Stockton, Calif.

"We all thought this would only be a one-year fight," Lokyo says.

But Lokyo and the group Concerned Citizens Coalition of Stockton (CCOS) felt compelled to challenge a rushed deal that turned the city's publicly owned water system into a for-profit venture. This month, their perseverance paid off when the city finally sent privatization packing.

"We believed that we were right," Lokyo says. "And when you believe that, you just can't stop."

In 2003, against the wishes of many Stockton residents, the city signed a 20-year contract with the company OMI-Thames to manage its wastewater, water and stormwater system. The CCOS, joined by the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County, filed a lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act to halt the project until it allowed for public participation. Judges twice ruled in favor of the groups, and on July 17, city officials voted to rescind their appeal and dissolve what Food and Water Watch, a group that challenges corporate control of water resources, has called the "most notorious water privatization deal in the United States."

As Loyko and fellow members of CCOS celebrate, water watchdogs mark another tally for citizens fighting to keep or regain local control of their water.

"It's both symbolic for the anti-water privatization movement, and it's a real victory for the citizens' groups of Stockton -- it means that the ordeal of water privatization is over for the city of 270,000 people," says Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/58589/

[Robbien]

1. There are so few wins these days against privatization

when there is one and it is a big one such as this, there should be a big loud

:party:

[Mojorabbit]

2. This is a wonderful article

It is so rare to hear of a win against the machine these days.

[billyoc]

3. The DLC will be pissed. n/t

[RufusTFirefly]

4. I should be pleased and relieved but...

... as a progressive, I'm discouraged. After all, by definition I'd like to be making progress. And yet we have to work so hard to stop things (like municipal water supplies) from being destroyed that there's almost no time left to work to make things better. It's like shoveling snow in a blizzard.

Sorry.
:cry: