Water rights: no clear solution

The privatization of public water supplies is occurring in many places around the world. Sold like a common commodity, the rights for distribution and management of community water are being bought and controlled more and more by private entrepreneurs and corporations.



But a global movement of activists say this most basic element of life should stay in the hands of the people who use it and out of the control of profit-seeking corporations or government bureaucracies.

On this edition, we investigate what’s behind customer complaints of American Water, North America's largest private water company. And we’ll take you to Detroit, Michigan, where anti-poverty activists are leading the fight to demand that access to water be treated as a human right and not a commodity.

This show was made possible in part by the Park Foundation.

Featuring::

Maureen Taylor, "Detroit: Not a Drop to Drink"; Mary, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and DWSD customer; John Riehl, President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 207; Sylvia Orduno, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization; Brennan Brown, formerly of the Macinac Center for Public Policy; Ian Hart, Pacific Institute; Marian Kramer, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization; Dorthy Crawford, Ohio American Water customer; Milton Nielsen, American Water customer, Felton, CA; Jim Graham, FLOW, or "Friends of Locally Owned Water," Felton, CA; Barbara Springer, California American Water customer, member of Felton FLOW; Kevin Tilden, California American Water Spokesperson; Victoria Kaplan, Food and Water Watch organizing director, Washington, DC; Representative Renee Kosel, Illinois State Representative.

Senior Producer/Host: Tena Rubio
Contributing Freelance Producers: Puck Lo, Christina Aanestad, Samantha Calamari
Associate Producer: Puck Lo
Interns: Samson Reiny and Joaquin Palomino, Elena Botkin-Levy

Greener Magazine

Bonus Audio::

Public vs Private Partnerships - Can public-private partnerships ever work? Correspondent Samantha Calamari has this story from Lee, Massachusetts.

For more information::

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
23 E. Adams, 4th Floor
Detroit, MI 48226
313-964-0618
info@mwro.org
www.mwro.org

Pacific Institute
654 13th Street, Preservation Park
Oakland, CA 94612
510-251-1600
info@pacinst.org
www.pacinst.org

AFSCME Local 207
600 West Lafayette
Detroit, MI 48226
info@afscme207.com
www.afscme207.com

Mackinac Center for Public Policy
140 West Main Street
P.O. Box 568
Midland, MI 48640
989-631-0900
mcpp@mackinac.org
www.mackinac.org

Food and Water Watch
1400 16th Street NW, Suite 225
Washington, DC 20036
202-797-6550
foodandwater@fwwatch.org
www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Friends of Locally Owned Water
P.O. Box 38
Felton, CA 95018
831-335-3053
info@feltonflow.org
www.feltonflow.org

Illinois State Representative Renée Kosel, 81st District
19201 S. LaGrange, Ste. 204B
Mokena, IL 60448
708-479-4200
contact@Kosel.net
www.kosel.net

American Water Headquarters
1025 Laurel Oak Road
Voorhees, NJ 08043
856-346-8200
www.amwater.com

American Water’s Parent Company, RWE
www.rwe.com

Veolia Water North America
14950 Heathrow Forest Parkway, Suite 200
Houston, TX 77032
800-522-4774
general.information@veoliawaterna.com
www.veoliawaterna.com

Massachusetts Senator Ben Downing
20 Bank Row, Suite 202
Pittsfield, MA 01201
617-722-1625 or 413-442-4008
benjamin.downing@state.ma.us
www.bendowning.org

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
1 Winter Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-292-5500
www.mass.gov

Town of Lee Camber of Commerce
3 Park Place
Lee, MA 01238
413-243-0852
info@leechamber.org
www.leechamber.org

Additional Information:

THIRST (the movie)
www.thirstthemovie.org/index.html

Music:

Raindrops – Avko –The Best of Electronica and New Age
Tom Neilson – www.tomneilsonmusic.com/index.php