Victoria, March 19th/2010

Feeling thirsty? Turn on the tap and relax in the knowledge that the water that comes out of it is clean and inexpensive. It is this experience that separates Canadians from many other parts of the world. And, according to the Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition, the main reason we can have such confidence in our water supply is that it is operated as a public utility.

“Governments in other parts of the world have privatized their drinking water distribution systems, with disastrous effects,” explains Coalition volunteer Michelle Coburn. “Privatized water ends up costing more than residents can afford,” continues Coburn, “and when contamination occurs, no one is available to fix the problem.”

Trying to imagine living in a world where tap water is unaffordable is hard for Capital Regional District residents, who have been spoiled for generations with an award-winning water system.

“We have so much to be grateful for when it comes to water in our region, province and country,” says Coburn. “We encourage CRD residents to celebrate our water riches with us next Monday on World Water Day.”

World Water Day is a United Nations initiative that is held on March 22nd each year. This year’s theme is called ''Clean Water for a Healthy World," and is focused on water quality issues.

“This focus on water quality in timely,” explains Coburn, “given the current debate about whether to privatize the region’s new sewage system.”

This past year, Coalition volunteers have spoken to thousands of people throughout the region who are concerned about a wide range of issues, including the subtle erosion of public utilities through things like privatized sewage.

At first glance, the connection between water and sewage utilities seems unclear.

“It’s called ‘back door water privatization,’” says Coburn. “Canadians overwhelmingly support public water, so water corporations sneak in through the back door, seeking less controversial private wastewater contracts in the hopes of paving the way for privatized water.

Giant multi-national corporations like Suez and Vivendi have successfully used this back door approach to gain access to highly lucrative wastewater and water contracts around the globe.

“Companies like Suez haven’t managed to penetrate the Canadian market yet,” says Coburn,” but they desperately want to. Most Canadian water and wastewater services are publicly delivered, representing a huge potential market to the private sector - worth billions upon billions of dollars.”

Which is why the Water Watch Coalition is working so hard to stop the privatization of the CRD’s sewage system. And why they encourage residents to join them in telling local politicians that public utilities need to stay in public hands.