But even if you ignore the case of Veolia, opponents say private companies are profit-driven. According to the nonprofit consumer-rights group Food and Water Watch, private water companies charge ratepayers on average 59 percent more than publicly owned water companies. This amounts to an average of $189 annually per customer.
“I think regardless of who the private partner being contemplated is, it should be a non-starter,” Wagner says. “Water should never be in any conversations of being for-profit. It’s unbelievable that they would be proposing that.”
But opponents of privatization do acknowledge that restructuring is necessary. PWSA has more than $760 million in debt and has seen frequent leadership turnover in recent years. In light of these issues, Shaw says her coalition would support hiring a consultant to develop a long-term plan for the authority.
“Some sort of restructuring will likely have to happen. We just want to make sure that ratepayers and the public are given the opportunity to give their input,” Shaw says. “We have to be really, really wary of any sort of profit motive, but we have made it clear that if a consulting firm or experts in this come in, help devise that long-term plan, and then remove themselves after, I think that would be fine.”
The city also faces deteriorating infrastructure that PWSA officials say has led to thousands of pipes breaking annually. But despite Pittsburgh’s infrastructure needs, Shaw says the authority should be wary of models of public-private partnerships that involve private-equity firms funding large infrastructure projects, a practice she says actually make them more expensive to the public in the long run and less transparent.
Ultimately, Pittsburgh City Council will have to approve any public-private partnership contract and councilors like Gross are currently examining the pros and cons of such partnerships and how to address PWSA’s problems.
“At this stage in the conversation, I keep thinking, ‘We’re not talking about an authority of the stadiums or an authority of parking.’ This is an authority of our water, and it’s fundamental to people’s health,” Gross says.
“We have a lot of big questions. How do we rebuild? This isn’t about maintaining infrastructure. It’s not 50 years ago, when our system was only about 50 years old. Our system is collapsing. Obviously we need to start rebuilding for the next 100 years. How do we do that and not put it on today’s pocketbooks?”
Gross points to history as an example of how private water companies can spell disaster for consumers. And she says research shows that public water systems have a much higher level of responsiveness to environmental and conservation issues.
“In the 1800s, water systems were largely private water companies, and service was so bad and public health was so bad, and equity was nonexistent. Poor parts of cities just were not served,” Gross says. “So about 100 years ago, we went to mostly public systems, and we saw the improvement of public health for vast amounts of the population.”
Before any decision about privatization can be made, Gross says private companies interested in working with Pittsburgh’s water system must be interviewed in public meetings.
“It’s really important to ask, ‘What will the rates be?’ It’s my understanding now that Penn American rates are higher than PWSA’s,” Gross says. “What does their infrastructure look like? How do they do on conservation? How do they do on equity issues?”
Today, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 90 percent of the public is served by public water systems. And Gross says that’s what most of the people she’s talked to support.
“In conversations that I’ve had, whether with constituents or advocates in my district, I’ve heard only support for keeping our system public,” Gross says. “But we have really important questions in front of us, so we need all the brain power we can get to solve this.”
And Gross says one of the most important questions is how the city will address its growing infrastructure needs. PWSA is required to replace 7 percent of its lead service lines every year due to the high lead levels detected. Each line costs approximately $2,000 to replace.
“We are going to need a tremendous amount of capital, and I don’t think we have been keeping that in front of us,” says Gross. “We’ve sort of been kicking it down the road.”
Delay in addressing deteriorating infrastructure can lead to rate increases, says Michael Deane, executive director of the National Association of Private Water Companies. But Deane challenges the idea that privatization automatically leads to rate increases. He says rate increases often occur when a water system undergoes infrastructure upgrades regardless of who’s in charge.
“Bringing in a private partner does not inherently raise rates,” Deane says. “The easiest way to keep rates low is to let your system fall apart and not make the investments you need, and unfortunately far too many utilities in this country are doing exactly that. But there are a lot of utilities that are putting in place very robust rate increases because they need to make those investments.
“Many utilities that don’t bring in a private partner are increasing rates as well. It’s a very simplistic look, saying ‘OK, a private partner comes in, rates go up.’ No, it’s because a municipality is making investments that need to be made along with a private partner.”
PWSA has seen several rate increases over the past few years, and last year the board approved rate increases that will equal an average of 13 percent for 2017 (or about $83 per year) and 8 percent for 2018.
And Deane says private water companies are uniquely poised to help municipalities address problems like those being experienced at PWSA. He points to places like York, Pa., which have had a private water utility for more than 200 years, as a testament to their success.
“We believe that the members of our association have great expertise. We’re professional water-management companies. It’s what we do all the time. We have great access to technology and capital, and these tools serve us well,” Deane says. “In many cases we find, particularly, smaller municipalities struggling with technology or with workforce — we have an aging workforce in this industry — and we’re able to bring in experts who can provide those services.”
But opponents of privatization stress that a public-private partnership isn’t the key to fixing PWSA’s problems. They also say it’s important to realize Pittsburgh’s water-system problems are not unique.
“Our campaign wants to make sure we clear the narrative that’s going around that PWSA’s problems are all due to mismanagement. This isn’t just a PWSA issue,” Shaw says. “A lot of water authorities are struggling from a lack of federal and state funding. A lot of them got hit in the financial crisis. So we really want to push that this isn’t just a public-mismanagement problem. This is a problem with a lot of complex factors, and public control really needs to be at the center of these conversations.”