Heartwell says No to Privatizing GR’s Water for Now

Yesterday, it was announced by Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell that privatizing the water services was no longer on the table. The Mayor made this announcement on the blog of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC).

Hear is what Heartwell had to say about how he came to the decision to take privatizing the water off the table.

“After Commissioners individually considered this idea they concluded that it is not an option they wish to pursue. And so, rather than bringing the idea to the community for consideration, I have withdrawn it.  There is much work remaining for us to do in our journey toward sustainability; none of us can afford to take precious time and energy exploring an option that has little chance of succeeding. There are many other opportunities for transforming local government and we will vigorously pursue those that have the greatest possibility of success.”

What is missing from the Mayor’s comments is the fact that there has been numerous efforts to stop the privatizing of the City’s water system. A Facebook page was created several months ago in opposition to the possibility of water privatization in Grand Rapids, GRIID has been posting numerous articles on the matter and last month the Bloom Collective hosted a forum on the issue. Out of that forum people crafted a letter and got people to sign on demanding that Heartwell take a public stance on this issue. The letter read as follows:

It was brought to our attention that you have recently engaged in communication with the companies Veolia and Suez regarding the potential privatization of Grand Rapids’ water services. We find such communication to be deeply alarming.

In communities where water privatization has occurred, water quality has gone down, water bills have gone up, and control over our most precious natural resource has been removed from the hands of the people to the hands of corporations. This distribution of power places top priority in profit rather than the health and happiness of the people and the environment. This is not something we want for our city and our water. While we understand the gravity of the current economic situation, tampering with the condition and control of our water is absolutely not a solution, and will simply not be tolerated by the people of Grand Rapids.

In our attempts to contact your office and city council members, it has been communicated to us that water privatization is no longer being considered in our city. While we find this moderately relieving, we are requesting an official public statement from you specifically so that we can rest assured that you are committed to keeping water services in the public hands. Pledge yourself and our city to accessible clean water for everyone.

We await your prompt and positive response. In the meantime, we will continue to educate ourselves and our neighbors, and maintain open and probing dialogue regarding the privatization of our water supply. We are prepared to take further action if it is not made explicitly clear by you that Grand Rapids will no longer be considering this option and that negotiation of such has been permanently removed from the table.

It seems that the public opposition has worked and that for now water privatization in Grand Rapids is off the table.