Standing Up for Chester Water Authority: Save Public Water
In Chester, Pennsylvania, a government bankruptcy threatens to cause a water affordability crisis as the state-appointed financial receiver plans to sell the region’s water system. Last week, concerned residents from Chester and allies delivered over 1,000 petition signatures to Governor Shapiro asking him to intervene in the Chester bankruptcy to protect the water system from privatization. “Austerity, the private water lobby, and Act 12 have created an environment in Pennsylvania where a well-run, reliable public water system like Chester Water Authority is a target to be bought up by private corporations.” said Jill Ryan, Executive Director of Freshwater Future. “The latest plan to sell the water authority to private corporate interests in the name of bankruptcy threatens to deprive over 200,000 customers of public assets, affordable water rates, and local governance.”
How Fair Market Value Legislation is Paving the Way for Privatization in the Great Lakes
Freshwater Future is a staunch advocate for public water and continues to support our partners on the ground opposing the privatization of our water systems. Fair market value (FMV) legislation that rewrote the rules for how water systems are appraised in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania has made it easier for private companies to gobble up public water utilities. In our newest blog post in our series on privatization, we explore how these laws have spread across the region and what they mean for local governance, affordability, and public control. You can also read our previous posts on What Is Fair Market Value Legislation? and Selling Public Water: How Privatization is Raising Rates in Pennsylvania.
Register for October 31st–Movement and Mindfulness
Don’t miss out on the last Movement & Mindfulness session for 2024 on October 31st at 11:30 a.m. ET. The 45-minute session is guaranteed to help you de-stress from all your hard work to address water issues. Register here to join us and our facilitator, Jonathan Relucio – a skilled practitioner of trauma-informed mindfulness, yoga, and meditation with over 20 years of experience advocating for social justice.
Technology Used to Track Muskie and Lake Sturgeon
A small tracking device inserted into fish is helping the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to understand fish behavior, identify spawning frequency, and locate critical habitats. One of the more surprising findings was the significant distances fish are traveling. For example, a Muskie traveled all the way from Lake St. Clair down the Detroit River to Lake Erie and swam across to Buffalo, New York. A male Lake Sturgeon swam from the Blue Water Bridge, the full length of Lake Huron, through the Straits of Mackinac to spend two years in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Check out more about this technology and what scientists are learning about the Great Lakes fishery.
Photo Credit: Adam Lintz, Blue Visions Media – michiganseagrant.org
