New Orleans     In Peru, the slogan was always “water is life,” when ACORN fought the privatization in Lima, Antigua, and other cities across the country in alliance with FENTAP, the water workers union.  In New Orleans, ACORN and Local 100 joined with our allies, both locally and nationally, to beat back the privatization of water and sewerage facilities from global companies like Thames Water and Veola with their local partners.  We won with then district councilman, now councilman-at-large, Oliver Thomas casting the deciding vote.

Cities all over the USA and the world were jumping on the bandwagon in the lean years of the 1980s in hopes of saving some money if they bought the figures and promises of these companies.  If they were jumping, they were being forced by the World Trade Organization, which made considering privatization proposals part of the quid pro quo for any support, which was pushing cities from Buenos Aires to Manila into their arms.

Nowhere was this project more successful than in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s conservative regime in Britain in the 1980s.   The water privatizers were as big there as they were in France.  Thames Water was the biggest and with governmental prodding led the way to many of the water and wastewater facilities in the country going under their control.

This privatization experiment with a vital public resource has not aged well.  People don’t like swimming in sewer water, and they sure don’t like drinking it.  In fact, they are sick of it.  According to a report in the Times,

The number of people getting sick from the water is growing, according to data collected by campaign groups and hospital administrators.  Surfers Against Sewage, a nonprofit group that tracks water quality around Britain, said more than 1900 people reported getting ill after entering the water last year, more than triple the number from the previous year.  But this was likely just “a glimpse into the true scale” of the problem, because it included only reports submitted to the group….

Add to that the fact that Thames Water hasn’t been exactly a model of corporate or community service.  Regulators have fined it over $100 million for dumping treated wastewater into rivers and streams.  Local councils across the country have complained about the lack of investments the company has made in upgrades and infrastructure.  Meanwhile, the company is sinking deeper into debt and its investors, including major pension and other funds in the US and Canada, have been hesitant to pour more money into the outfit.

The new Labour government has promised to nationalize the rails again given the hot mess that they have become, and has threatened to do so in other areas.  Many are calling for nationalization of water to return.  The industry of course is whining that customers are paying too little and that it would cost too much to nationalize.

Maybe, but who wants to swim in a sewer and, worse, drink from it?