Windward 7th Graders Answer Water Challenge

Windward's 7th Grade Life Science classes have been working on projects to improve water usage, quality, or access in their community. They presented their work at a community forum on Friday, May 17 to students, teachers, parents, and fellow Los Angeles residents. From the same prompt, student groups developed projects that explored a wide range of issues, including beach cleanups, ways to purify tainted water using UV light, and the effect that commercial water privatization can have on communities. One sample "answer" to the Water Challenge comes from the team of Jonah Rubin, Sam Wimmer, and Miles Rosenthal:

Who Controls Our Water

And Why You Should Care

Seventh grade students at Windward School in Los Angeles, California have spent the semester looking into water quality and access issues at local to global levels. Through critically examining water issues, we have identified the negative effects of water privatization nationwide. Although water privatization does not currently affect California cities, we advocate the importance of education and activism concerning water issues. Knowledge of water privatization will increase awareness toward local water issues and facilitate future concerns toward unjust conflicts over water rights. 

The privatization of city water allows it to be exploited as a commodity, rather than a service provided for the community by municipal governments. Traditionally water systems in the United States are a public utility supported by local governments. According to inthepublicinterest.org, 85% of U.S. residents receive their water through public water companies. Public water companies provide good quality water at a reasonable price and employ a large work force. In general, privately managed companies are more efficient and economically productive than public ones. Although, in the case of water, private companies have a history of controlling this essential resource and failing to be more productive than their municipal counterparts. In the past, some privately managed water companies have raised fees for water as well as fired the existing workforce. Numerous examples display the negative effects of privatizing a city’s water. 

In 1993, the government of Huber Heights, Ohio agreed to privatize its water, which catered to 40,000 customers. Initially the city opposed the sale, concerned that the company would raise water rates and limit the city’s growth. According to the State Environment Resource Center, the privatization by American Water Works increased rates in Huber Heights by 30 percent. In addition to this, American Water Works outsourced 2 million gallons a day of Huber Heights water to an industrial water plant located outside of the city. This is one example of how the private water sector favors profitability over the public's best interests. 

In 1999, Atlanta, Georgia signed a contract with United Water, a subsidiary for the multinational corporation Suez, to privatize all water in the state. When this happened, United Water cut 400 jobs, slowed repair speeds, and did not respond adequately to emergencies. The city says United Water put job fees on citizens’ bills that the company did not perform. The company also lost the map of the water pipes and water quality dropped. People in Atlanta were forced to boil water to make sure they had safe water. The contract was meant for 20 years but was cut off in 2002 after 3 years. All of this adds up to water privatization being bad for citizens. 

In 2008, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, water privatization had become a problem. In that year, the City Comptroller introduced an idea to a few executive businessmen about water privatization. The City Comptroller thought water privatization was an excellent concept because Milwaukee was in a financial drought. Water privatization by another multinational company, Veolia , would raise water costs and limit Milwaukee's financial deficit. Milwaukee’s water price in 2008 was half of the market price. With Veolia controlling the water, the water price would raise above the market price. Over 35% of Milwaukee's people would have trouble affording these costs. In response to the raised costs, the “Keep Public Our Water” coalition started to protest in 2009. In 2010, discussions began in court. This water privatization issue is still being debated today. 

These three examples underline that water privatization problems could have been prevented if citizens were better informed and took more action against mismanaged water privatization from the beginning. Ignorance to the negative effects of water privatization lead to poorer water quality, increases in water usage fees, and overall harm to the water safety and access for citizens. We hypothesize that if more people knew about water privatization and its negative effects on a city, citizens would fight to keep their water a public service. Based on a sample survey taken at Windward School in Los Angeles, California, 83% of secondary students, or 106:22, said they did not know about water privatization. If this survey reflects the larger community, it is apparent that people do not know about water privatization. Our solution is to educate the future generation, high school students, in the community and encourage them to participate in local affairs having to do with the city’s water. Through increased awareness of water privatization, powerful companies such as Vivendi and Suez cannot threaten cities’ water - or their citizens -- in the future. 

The authors are 7th grade students at Windward School