TFTT Report
Atlanta Rate Crisis Proves FWW Narrative is Faulty
In laying out its anti-private water agenda, Food & Water Watch (FWW) used to feature Atlanta as a key case study. In fact, it seemed the group couldn’t talk water without mentioning Atlanta, utilizing the city as an example in five of its major reports and in various blog posts and handouts.[i]
Now the Atlanta case study is nowhere to be found. Not in FWW’s reports. Not on the group’s website. Nowhere. So, what happened?
When Truth from the Tap (TFTT) launched, our aim was to expose the false and misleading claims made by activists who target private water companies. In the case of Atlanta, where a private operator ran the system from 1999 to 2003, this meant pointing out how FWW ignored well-documented facts and twisted reality to tell a story that fit the group’s anti-private agenda. For instance:
- FWW claimed that private operation of the Atlanta water system resulted in lost jobs. In reality, the city’s contract with the private operator guaranteed jobs with wages and benefits equal to or exceeding those offered under government operation.[ii]
- FWW criticized the private operator for maintenance backlogs during its tenure, but failed to note how the city did not disclose the extent of repairs needed. For instance, in the contract, the city estimated that 1,171 water meters per year would require repairs[iii] but in the first year of the contract alone, 11,108 meters broke.[iv] The private operator repaired over 36,000 meters between 1999 and 2002, a staggering 889 percent more repairs than the contract had estimated.[v]
- FWW denounced rate increases under private operation but then ignored the significant rate increases that followed under government operation. When Atlanta’s water system was under private management, a household using 15,000 gallons of water per month was charged $177.22 for water and sewer service.[vi] Later, under city management, that same household was charged $412.92, an increase that greatly outpaced the rate of inflation.[vii] Under government control, Atlanta’s water rates increased more than 200 percent, giving the city the highest water rates in the country.[viii] Yet FWW, quick to criticize the private operator, fell silent when rate increases occurred under government control.
Once we exposed the facts, showing how FWW twisted the story on Atlanta, the group dropped its case study entirely. But the Atlanta experience is an important illustration – not just of FWW’s casual disregard for the facts, but also of how rates and rate increases fit into the bigger picture of proper water system maintenance and infrastructure investment.
Atlanta still has the highest water rates in the country. And instead of increasing those rates even further, earlier this year voters decided to institute a 1% sales tax to fund water and sewer infrastructure investments.[ix] Decision-makers and voters are doing the right thing by investing in their water and sewer systems.
The city faces a difficult situation. As we have seen in systems across the country, for decades the Atlanta water and wastewater systems were neglected under government operation as investments were deferred in favor of lower rates.[x] Eventually, the water and sewer systems reached a breaking point, and the EPA demanded action.[xi] A private operator started the process of fixing the systems, making badly-needed, long-overdue investments. Those investments were funded by higher rates. Efforts to fix and improve the systems continue today, and we applaud Atlanta for making the commitment to get its water and sewer infrastructure back in order.
We will continue to push back on the efforts of FWW and other activists who try to twist the story in Atlanta and other cities to fit their ideological, anti-private agenda. The next time FWW blindly celebrates artificially low rates and lack of investment in government-run water systems (as the group effectively did in its February 2016 rate comparison analysis[xii]) know that there is more to the story.
Systems that properly invest today won’t face an Atlanta-style rate crisis tomorrow. That’s the key lesson of Atlanta – but you’ll never hear it from FWW.