I have been asked several times in the past few weeks whether California mutual water companies are authorized to transfer water to non-shareholders at a profit. It appears some activists have begun arguing that California Public Utilities Code ยง 2705 prohibits mutual water companies from making money on water transfers. This challenge is part of [...]
Archive for the ‘Private v. public’ Category
Water Transfers by California Mutual Water Companies
Posted in Private investment, Private v. public, Public utilities regulation, Water companies, Water markets/transfers, Water rights on September 15, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Tap v. Bottled Water in the Private Sector
Posted in Bottled Water, Municipalization, Private v. public, Privatization, Public private partnerships on April 25, 2011 | 1 Comment »
We often see critics linking together private water companies and bottled water as jointly promoting “commodification” of the world’s water supplies. While the differences should be fairly obvious between investor-owned utilities and companies that provide design, construction, operations and maintenance services to governments, on the one hand, and companies that bottle, distribute and sell water [...]
The California Water Bond, Private Profit and Public Benefit
Posted in Economics of water, Private v. public, Privatization, Public utilities regulation on January 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Several commentators have recently criticized the proposed California water bond for allowing private companies to own, operate and profit from water infrastructure paid for with bond proceeds. These criticisms have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and California Progress Report, and have been repeated in a number of other publications. The $11.14 billion water bond [...]
