On Tuesday, Baltimore became the first big city in the country to ban water privatization. With a huge margin of victory — 77 percent of voters approved the charter amendment — Baltimore residents declared their water system to be a permanent, inalienable asset of the city. No corporation can take the water and sewer system away from the city. This is a historic victory for local control of water. 
 
 Baltimore offers a model for the nation on how to protect local control of essential public services. This measure provides a framework for cities to prevent the sale and lease of their water and sewer systems to outside interests. 
 
 When corporations run water systems, they have one primary goal — profit. They don’t have altruistic aspirations of ensuring that everyone has equitable access to safe and affordable water. Many communities that have privatized their water have experienced skyrocketing rates, job losses, or worse service. And this burden falls hardest on working families, poor people, and communities of color. 
 
 Baltimore’s charter amendment had full support from the entire city council (it was shepherded by Council President Jack Young to get it on the ballot in time) and it was first proposed and later signed by Mayor Catherine Pugh. Baltimore’s elected officials recognized the importance of preserving public control of this critical resource, but the grassroots-powered movement is what inspired and educated voters about this measure. 
 
 Food & Water Watch worked with the campaign committee Keep Baltimore’s Water Public along with labor unions and community groups, including the City Union of Baltimore, AFT-Maryland, AFSCME Local 67, Jews United for Justice, Maryland Working Families, and many other partners. We knocked on doors, called voters, and talked with people at the polls to explain the importance of the ballot question. 
 
 For at least 25 years, corporations have sought control of Baltimore’s water system. But now the city has responded with a resounding “No.” 
 
 Water companies have approached almost every new mayor and public works director. Most recently, French multinational company Suez and Wall Street firm KKR have aggressively pitched Baltimore officials on a long-term lease of the utility. The companies offered up-front cash for long-term control of Baltimore’s public water system. That upfront money was nothing short of an expensive loan that residents would repay through hikes in their water bills. By passing Question E, Baltimore has outsmarted predatory private companies, stopped these schemes, and protected its water system from extreme privatization deals. 
 
 Baltimore is the first U.S. city to amend its charter — the city's constitution — to prohibit water privatization. And it is part of a global water justice movement to realize the human right to water. In 2004, Uruguay voters amended their constitution to become the first country to ban water privatization. Around the globe, cities have committed to keep water services in public control, most recently Berlin and three other German cities. 
 
 Baltimore voters too have chosen to resist pressure to sell and outsource one of the most vital and precious resources they have. They have protected public control, accountability, and transparency of their water. 
 
 Now that privatization is out of the picture, Baltimore can work to improve the accountability and affordability of the water system and ensure every person in the city has access to safe and affordable water service. Food & Water Watch looks forward to working with other cities to protect their water systems from corporate control and lifting up Baltimore as a model for water justice for the nation. 

 WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The city of Baltimore voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban the privatization of its water and sewerage systems, in what supporters say is the first large U.S. jurisdiction to take such a step. 
 
 Around 77 percent of more than 148,000 voters backed a proposal to alter the city’s charter to declare the “inalienability” of its sewerage and water-supply systems, with most votes counted Wednesday morning. 
 
 A Baltimore official said multiple cities have expressed interest in similar provisions. 
 
 The measure “sends a strong message to private corporations,” said Rianna Eckel, Maryland state organizer for Food & Water Watch, an advocacy group that promoted the ballot initiative. 
 
 “It prohibits any asset sales or leases of the system,” she added. “It’s not a sure-fire trick to prevent any privatization ever, but it prohibits the most dangerous efforts,” she added. 
 
 Baltimore has one of the oldest water systems in the country, and decades of deferred maintenance have resulted in a quadrupling of water rates since 2000, Eckel said. 
 
 It has also prompted worries that privatization would cause further spikes, and that the city would have no control over who these most affected. 
 
 Eckel pointed to Food & Water Watch research finding that private water utilities tend to charge almost 60 percent more than public counterparts. 
 
 Baltimore’s aging infrastructure has drawn increasing attention from private water companies seeking to take over management of parts of the city systems, according to Lester Davis, deputy chief of staff for City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young, the amendment proposal’s chief proponent. 
 
 “There was a lot of chatter that we needed to close the door on,” said Davis, noting that Young doesn’t believe water systems “should be subject to the whims of the private market.” 
 
 The mayor and city council have already signed off on the new measure. 
 
 Water company Veolia North America was unable to provide comment for this story by deadline. Another key company, Suez North America, failed to respond to a request for comment. Both companies have approached Baltimore in recent years, according to Eckel. 
 
 Other cities are already taking note. 
 
 After the city council of Pittsburgh, another post-industrial city, recently hosted peers from Baltimore on the issue, Pittsburgh council member Erika Strassburger told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the discussions were “enlightening” as her city undergoes its own conversations about the future of its water system. 
 
 Most members of the council, she noted, “appear resistant to privatizing our water system.”
– Baltimore’s public water system will remain just that, public. Voters there overwhelmingly supported an amendment to the city’s charter declaring the “inalienability” of its water and sewer systems, Reuters reports, effectively banning privatization—the first large city to do so. Calling it, “a historic victory for local control of water,” Rianna Eckel of advocacy group Food and Water Watch writes, “No corporation can take the water and sewer system away from the city.” About 77% of voters supported the measure. Baltimore has one of the country’s oldest water systems, and rates have quadrupled in the past 18 years after decades of deferred maintenance. Proponents of the amendment were concerned that privatization of the system would result in even more rate increases, over which the city would have no control. According to Eckel, private water utilities charge nearly 60% more than public ones. A Baltimore official says that private water companies have shown interest in taking over parts of the system, telling Reuters, “There was a lot of chatter that we needed to close the door on.” Other cities have shown interest in what Baltimore is doing. Pittsburgh council members, for instance, recently had a discussion with some of their Baltimore counterparts, with one of the former telling Reuters that Pittsburgh council members “appear resistant to privatizing our water system.” (The Pope says safe drinking water is a human right.)