Thirst: The Corporate Theft of Our Water

BOOK PARTY
Monday, April 16, 7:00 p.m.
Odyssey Books, South Hadley,
Co-sponsored by Shays 2

Meet the authors of Thirst: the Corporate Theft of Our Water, a brand-new book outlining citizen struggles against multinational corporate privatization of local water and sewer systems (with two chapters featuring struggles in Western MA alone - Holyoke and Lee - where Shays 2 was involved!).

Authors Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman will discuss their new book, Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water. (They are the producers of the award-winning documentary film "Thirst.")

"Currently 85% of public water in the US is run by municipalities," Deborah Kaufman says. "The chief lobbyist for the National Association of Water Companies told us their goal is to have 85% of those cities and towns water systems in private hands in a few years."

Learn about how we can fight the threat of fast-track privatization of Massachusetts water services in all our cities and towns from a new bill (House Bill 3216) that is before the legislature now!

Privatization of our water services eliminates public oversight, accountability and transparency of finances and services-leads to skyrocketing rates, the risk of our water being taken and sold for profit, threatening our own communities' growth and develop. This is a danger equal to many Walmart superstores in our region!

Discuss citizens rights-based strategies to save our public sector now under assault, prevent the corporate theft-through privatization-- of our water, earth and airwaves.

There is a new citizens-revolt movement taking place under the radar of the national media in towns and cities across the United States against the corporate takeover of water, a necessity of life that touches everyone at home. But water is rapidly being transformed from a public trust into a product to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. It's becoming the oil of the 21st century as multinationals learn they can profit from this natural resource. Bottled water companies are spending millions of dollars advertising water in plastic as pure and clean-falsely suggesting that tap water is otherwise. With no advertising budget, how can our communities' great public water systems fight back to defend themselves... even if our water costs 1,000 times less and is more rigorously tested? While multinational water companies tout their charitable donations, there is little to publicize their systematic lobbying to slash federal funding for clean public water systems.

Out of sight of most Americans, global corporations are rapidly buying up local water sources in small towns out of the eye of the media - lakes, streams, and springs - by taking control of public water services (including sewer, waste-water and water filtration plants) to get access to municipal water supplies. While major water companies publicize gifts to environmental organizations, there is little publicity of the companies' exploitation of local aquifers to "mine" water in the public domain over the objection of citizens, drastically raising local water and sewer prices and limiting future development of communities with drained aquifers. As society faces the ticking clock of global warming, water scarcity - already a crisis in much of the world - is about to become a reality in the US. How will citizens be able to find out what is happening to their water when the information is controlled by private companies? How will government be able to require equitable and environmentally responsible delivery of water if private companies increasingly control decision-making through lobbying anad campaign contributions?

Come learn and discuss these important issues facing us as we prepare our Pioneer Valley communities to be prepared to protect our water, and other publicly-owned resources from privatization - a national phenomenon growing stronger, usurping our citizen control over our commons.

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