Community and government transparency advocates have accused Baltimore City officials of moving to privatize the city’s water system by searching for a consultant to tell them how to run it better.
City officials say it’s not so, but the advocates claim that one of the companies that may, or may not, be involved – Veolia North America – will find a way to take over and cost the city millions of dollars in the process.
Kim Trueheart, a citizen activist, accused the company of trying to profit off water, which she called a human right.
“We know that the M.O. of Veolia across the globe – this is a global enterprise – has been to come in; privatize systems for profit,” she said, “And just squeeze every dime you can squeeze out of the citizens.”
Veolia, known in Baltimore for operating taxi companies and The Circulator, is a multi-national conglomerate that also provides energy, waste management and water services to local governments.
Corporate Accountability International, a Boston based watch dog group that has taken on McDonald’s, GM and Philip Morris, is leading the charge against Veolia.
“They inevitably have rate hikes,” said Lauren DeRousha, Corporate Accountability’s national campaign organizer. “They have a lot of labor rights abuses. They often have health and safety violations. And they end up being very expensive for the cities in which they are operating.”
Corporate Accountability and a number of other groups were involved in a protest against the consulting contract Monday at City Hall. They said it’s the first step toward privatization.
City Public Works Director Rudy Chow said there is no need for alarm; city officials just want to make sure they’re running the system as well as possible.
“It is our intention to follow best industry practices to making sure we deliver the best services to our citizens here,” he said.
It is not clear, however, whether Veolia has bid on the contract. Company spokeswoman Karole Colangelo referred questions about the potential bid to the city. She did not respond to the accusations of violations or labor abuses.
Chow said he can’t comment on who placed bids.
The consultant the city hires will examine the operations of the Montebello and Ashburton water filtration plants and the Back River and Patapsco wastewater treatment plants and make recommendations for improvements.
The work is to be done in a year.
Chow, who oversaw the water and wastewater bureau before being appointed head of public works, said his focus from the beginning was to improve the system.
“Our founding father had done a fantastic job but it’s now our responsibility to make sure it can be handed off to the next generation and the generations to come in a good working order,” he said.
Chow added that it will be early next year before the contract is awarded.
DeRousha said she’s glad the city is not interested in making the water system private, but she’s still leery of Veolia.
“Cities in the United States have actually paid millions of dollars to get their water systems back from Veolia after they have handed them over,” she said.