Who are major corporate players and what have they been doing concerning the privatization of water utilities?
A. The French water giants, Suez and Vivendi, and a German utility conglomerate, RWE, are the major corporate players in the U.S. water service market. They have purchased America’s largest private water utilities and spent millions of dollars on campaign contributions to sway Congressional votes on privatization laws. In particular, private water companies are pushing for legislation to require cash-poor municipal governments to consider privatizing their waterworks in exchange for federal money. European-based utility giants have been bidding aggressively for new contracts to run American water systems, and have secured 10- to 20-year billion dollar contracts in big cities from coast to coast.
