Pennsylvania was once a trailblazer for clean, public water. It even enshrined residents’ right to clean water in state law before Congress passed the federal Clean Water Act. But in recent years, the state has been in the crosshairs of corporations determined to profit from this essential resource at the expense of Pennsylvania ratepayers. 

As a result, residents across the state have witnessed corporate takeovers of their water and sewer systems, and rates have skyrocketed. More Pennsylvania families are struggling to afford water and sewer services, which are basic human rights. Because of terrible policies pushed by water corporations themselves, this trend could continue. However, the movement against privatization has been gaining steam, winning big victories to keep water in public hands.

This month, dozens of residents, advocates, and elected officials gathered at the State Capitol. Together, they met with state lawmakers and delivered more than 1,500 petitions to Governor Josh Shapiro, calling on him to protect the Chester Water Authority from privatization and revoke all policies promoting water and sewer privatization. 

Recent years have shown that Pennsylvanians don’t want corporate water takeovers, and are working tirelessly to fight them. Elected officials at every level of government must defend water as a human right and not allow it to be offered to the highest bidder.

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Policies Open the Floodgates for Water Privatization in PA

For decades, water companies like Aqua (now part of Essential Utilities) and American Water have pushed for policies that promote more privatization and more profits. They’ve also weakened the authority of the Public Utilities Commission, which provides oversight on rate hikes and water and sewer sales and aims to prevent corporate abuses.

Moreover, water companies have flooded state politics with money to get their way. According to a Food & Water Watch analysis of the PA Lobbying Disclosure Database, from January 2014 to June 2024, Pennsylvania American Water and Aqua Pennsylvania spent nearly $6 million on lobbying in Pennsylvania.

This has paid off handsomely for these corporations. For example, water companies lobbied aggressively for the state to pass 2016’s Act 12. Under the law, large water corporations can inflate the value of the water or sewer system they’re acquiring.

Why is that good for water companies? They can recover the cost of a sale — along with investor returns — by raising rates on their customers. The more they inflate the price of the system, the higher they can raise rates, and the more profit they can make.

Act 12 has greased the wheels on privatization, making it more profitable for companies to buy systems and easier to entice local governments to sell them. Both the seller and buyer push for ever-higher purchase prices.

The result has been more privatization, record-high sale prices for water systems, and soaring water and sewer charges. Systems privatized since Act 12 have raised their rates 44% to 166% higher. 

The Corporate Blueprint for Water Takeovers

Through decades of water and sewer takeovers, corporations have developed a clear playbook, as documented by the grassroots group Keep Water Affordable. For one, they frame the sale as “free money” for local governments, with no downsides. But this framing is highly misleading. 

“That money is not free,” says Bill Ferguson, an advocate from New Garden Township and cofounder of Keep Water Affordable. “It is literally taken out of the wallets and bank accounts of the ratepayers. In a real sense, they are being scammed.” 

Even if the company lowers costs and pays off debt, those savings don’t get passed onto ratepayers. Moreover, the community will always be chained to paying for Big Water’s profits. Bill notes that under Aqua’s revenue structure, 44 cents of every dollar goes to the company’s profits. 

Additionally, companies use scare tactics and urgency to convince officials they need to privatize to stay afloat. They often exploit a system or town’s financial problems, struggling infrastructure, and impending water quality regulations to frame privatization as the only answer. 

However, that’s far from the case. For instance, public systems have better financing options, such as government grants to help systems meet new standards. Corporations use urgency to stop communities from exploring these options. 

Finally, companies aim to finalize a sale as quickly and quietly as possible. Government officials may be forced or required to sign non-disclosure agreements to keep deals in the shadows, out of the public eye. 

For instance, in Bucks County, officials voted on an eye-watering $1.1 billion privatization deal without including it on the meeting agenda ahead of time. This may have violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine law, which is supposed to ensure transparency. 

PA Communities Have Come Together to Overcome Bad Policy and Dirty Tactics

Transparency is one of the biggest threats to water companies and their deals. More information leads to more opposition. Neighbors can learn, gather strength in numbers, and stop deals in their tracks. This is already happening in Pennsylvania.

In recent years, Neighbors Oppose Privatization Efforts (NOPE) has worked across the state to successfully fight privatization deals. With community members, organizers have blocked sales in Norristown, Conshohocken, Bucks County, Towamencin, North Versailles, and more. 

“An organized community can stop these scams,” emphasized Kofi Osei, Towamencin Township Supervisor and NOPE organizer. 

When Towamencin was on the verge of privatizing its sewer system, Kofi was not yet supervisor. He cofounded Towamencin NOPE, bringing together hundreds of neighbors to stop the deal.

NOPE wrote op-eds opposing the sale and pressured the township to hold town halls. But despite overwhelming public opposition, in 2022, the township approved a sale to NextEra for a whopping $115 million — more than six times the system’s book value.

Nevertheless, NOPE didn’t give up. Members collected petition signatures for a ballot measure that changed their township charter and allowed them to stop the sewer deal. NOPE educated voters and successfully passed the measure to become a home-rule charter municipality. Their members were even elected to the commission that drafted the new charter. 

During this process, NextEra pulled out of the deal. Despite intense public opposition, the township crafted a new arrangement with American Water. 

In May 2023, Towamencin residents approved a new charter that outlawed sewer privatization. Unfortunately, the township still didn’t yield to the public’s demands to cancel the deal. Residents sued to have the township follow their own new charter. Finally, last month, the Board finally voted to terminate the sale, to resounding applause from the public.

We Have the Power to Stop Private Takeovers

The deluge of water privatization efforts in Pennsylvania is a stark warning for communities nationwide. As water and sewer sales ramp up in other parts of the country (notably, next door in New Jersey) it’s more important than ever that we defend our water from corporate greed. 

Towns like Towamencin have shown the power of neighbors joining with neighbors. A broad movement of organizers, elected officials, and everyday community members is fighting — and winning — against privatization.

However, these fights will only continue without broad policy changes that protect public water to begin with. Encouragingly, state regulators recently rewrote regulations governing the implementation of Act 12 to try to mitigate its excessive rate hikes. But we need stronger changes. We need to repeal Act 12 and other laws that have opened the doors for corporate takeovers. 

Unfortunately, a package of bills to reform Act 12 appears to have stalled in the State Legislature. But we can’t give up. Towamencin shows that people coming together can overcome the odds. 

Though these corporations are powerful, so are the people. We will continue to fight for a complete repeal of Act 12 and an end to all the policy levers water companies have exploited. With our allies and our communities, we are defending clean, affordable, public water and sanitation for all.