More and more communities around the world are finding that public utilities are being outsourced to mega corporations. Novato, a small city in Marin County, California recently made news in the New York Times (In Marin County, a Public Fight Over Private Control of Sewage). Novato wants to stop the French multi-national corporation Veolia from getting a contract to maintain the Novato wastewater treatment plant.

The Alliance of Concerned Citizens of Novato is:

” . . . an association formed by Novato residents to prevent the privatization (outsourcing) of the operations and maintenance of Novato Sanitary District’s new $90 million wastewater treatment facility. ACCNovato is an alliance of citizens who wish to keep our Novato utilities public with local control!”

Although the Novato wastewater agency has had its share of problems (investigated by the EPA and FBI For dumping sewage in the Bay), outsourcing to a French company is not the solution. Veolia has a poor environmental record. It also tried to buy the Novato district board elections to get Veolia sympathizers on the board.

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