For a water treatment plant we don’t need: Water rates skyrocket and low-income residents suffer
Goldman, Sachs; Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Barclays Capital and multi-national engineering firms MWH, Black & Veatch, profit the most from Austin’s $600 million debt-financing of Water Treatment Plant No. 4
Austin is not immune from the grip of Wall Street and big corporations. City Hall continues to run up debt, bundled and swapped by the “too big to fail” Wall Street banks. The very worst example is the $600 million (over a billion counting interest) committed to build a water treatment plant that we don’t need for at least 15 years or more.
We pay the price – every single month – with the highest water bills of any major City in Texas. Just last month City Council voted to hike water rates 19% for “average” residential water users. Those households using the least amount of water – including low-income households – will pay a 50% increase starting this month. The Water Utility has promised additional rate increases every single year for at least the next four years – adding hundreds of dollars to annual water bills for residential customers.
So who gets the money?? (besides the Wall Street banks shown on the front page of last November’s Austin Water Utility bond offering, reproduced on the back of this flyer) The lead contractor is MWH, a giant multi-national engineering company with a track record of big construction projects that often do more harm than good. See www.MWHGlobal.com. Employees of big engineering companies have contributed heavily to city council campaigns – pushing Austin towards more and more debt-financed projects regardless of need.
We can save water and save money by helping residents and local business use water more efficiently – for a small fraction of the cost of building a water plant that requires decades of wasteful water sales to pay off the debt-financing. We don’t have the water or the money to waste on schemes that are neither affordable nor sustainable.
Let’s connect the dots – from Wall Street to Austin City Hall
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Call and email Austin City Councilmembers Laura Morrison and Kathie Tovo and give them a simple message: Take action now to Stop Water Treatment Plant No. 4 and call for a complete outside audit of the entire project, including the debt-financing by Bank of America and others and the management by MWHGlobal.
Councilmember Laura Morrison: 974-2258; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Councilmember Kathie Tovo: 974-2255; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Learn more at www.SaveWaterSaveMoney.org and www.SOSAlliance.org