Aqua America: Water Provider or Profiteer? Kids in Chuluota, Florida are getting sick from drinking local water. People in certain parts of Fort Wayne, Indiana and Cambridge, New York are experiencing, or expect to face, egregious water rate hikes. What do these communities have in common? Their water is serviced subsidiaries of the private water company Aqua America. The second largest publicly traded water and wastewater corporation based in the United States, it has pushed its way to the top through a strategy of aggressive acquisitions and drastic rate increases. Recent earnings figures by Aqua America reveal a 20 percent increase in third-quarter income--$35.4 million compared with $29.5 during the same time period the year before. Third quarter revenue was $177.1 million, a 7 percent increase over $165.5 million from the year before. Yet a report released today by the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch reveals that the company’s success can be attributed to an aggressive growth strategy that favors profits over service delivery. Until 1999, Aqua America only operated in Pennsylvania. Yet over the past 10 years it has expanded to more than a dozen states, aiming to take over 25 to 35 systems a year. Food & Water Watch’s report Aqua America: Strategies of a Water Profiteer finds that the company deliberately goes after water systems in small and medium-sized communities with less political voice and little, if any ability to legally contest the sale of their water system. Moreover, the company targets systems in states with weak regulations regarding the takeover of public water systems. Other communities serviced by Aqua America and its subsidiaries have reported problems including egregious rate hikes, service interruptions, poor water quality and more. “The situation in Chuolota, Fort Wayne, Oak Ridge, Cambridge and other communities where Aqua America is holding water systems captive clearly illustrates an astounding lack of public oversight of one of our most precious natural resources,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “Weak regulations have allowed Aqua America to manipulate laws in many states in order to take over the water systems in communities that lack the political capital to oppose these purchases. The experience of the residents in Cambridge and elsewhere further highlights the fact that private corporations do not have the interests of consumers at heart when they seek to buy water systems. Their loyalties are to one body alone and that’s their shareholders.” Aqua America: Strategies of a Water Profiteer is available online at: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/pubs/reports/aqua-america . Food & Water Watch is a national consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Please visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org .