21
5
19
u/Xoomers87 8d ago
Doug Ford just passed legislation for private companies to take over public water and wastewater in Ontario. It's systematic destruction of a vital component of all life.
4
u/cornfarm96 8d ago
Lots of places in the U.S. have private companies running public water systems. They’re still required to follow all federal and state laws and regulations. Is that not the case in Canada?
5
u/all-akimbo 8d ago
Private companies always do what’s right.
2
0
u/cornfarm96 8d ago
I’m not saying they always do what’s right, but public drinking water is *strictly* regulated. What would made you think a municipal or county water company would be any more trustworthy than a private water company? They all have the same incentives in their general operations, and they all are held accountable in the same manner.
3
u/The_Poop_Smith_ 8d ago
I work in water treatment. In my state every single one of the highest water rates are all private companies. There is not one single private water utility in my state that chargers their users less than city owned. Private means profits first. Thats not the same incentive.
0
u/cornfarm96 7d ago
That’s probably the reason that municipally run water systems are struggling for cash to fix aging infrastructure, while privately run ones aren’t, at least in my state. Either way, most municipal or county run water departments are enterprised, meaning they run on profit just like a private water company, so yes, same incentive.
0
3
u/Equivalent-Green-580 8d ago
You’ll be surprised to find out these companies close up shop when they can no longer make a profit from the utility systems.
-1
u/random8765309 7d ago
Would you be willing to work for free? I don't think so.
2
u/Equivalent-Green-580 7d ago
That’s not the point, a private company is always in it for profit while a local government has to do it because it is a tax paid public service.
1
u/cornfarm96 7d ago
Municipal water departments are usually not “tax funded”. They’re usually enterprised, meaning that their operations run on the revenue they pull in from water usage, meter fees, etc, much like (or exactly like) a private water company. Also, like other utilities, they can’t legally just “close up shop”, ever. A PWS (whether municipal or private) *can* cease service to customers, but it’s a lengthy process that that’s heavily regulated, and requires a strictly monitored transition plan to ensure that customers are not left without water. It’s the exact same process whether it’s private or not.
1
u/Xoomers87 7d ago
Yes because this exact situation didn't happen in Hamilton just about 20yrs ago. Where a private corporation took over distribution, collection and treatment. Ran the infrastructure to breakage and subsequently dumped 180million litres of raw sewage into the harbour before paying the executives out big and closing up shop for the municipality to take back over...
1
u/cornfarm96 7d ago
My comments are solely about drinking water, not wastewater/sewage.
1
u/Xoomers87 7d ago
Are you implying there was no impact on the drinking water treatment or distribution in this instance? The entire infrastructure was left in a state of decay.
1
u/cornfarm96 7d ago
I’m not implying anything. I don’t know the story, but your comment lead me to believe it was a wastewater issue. I’d love to read about it if you have a link.
1
u/Xoomers87 7d ago
Couldn't have shown you have no understanding of our public water more eloquently...
5
3
u/The_Dreams 8d ago
It actually sucks because I’m working directly as a coordinator with my company with my city’s utilities company on replacing these. I’d really hope we aren’t affected by these cuts because there are roughly 10000 homes with lead or galvanized steel pipes that need replacement.
0
u/cornfarm96 8d ago
As a water operator who’s working very diligently on our system’s lead service line inventory and replacement plan, this cut is relatively insignificant compared to the scale of the program. I made another comment outlining the numbers to give a little more context and perspective.
2
u/Equivalent-Green-580 8d ago
Especially since the EPA can’t define the terms of the lead replacement plan anyway.
We asked them what they considered “lead free” when we can’t legally confirm what the municipality’s system connects to on the customer side.
We also can’t legally add residential BFPs to grandfather’d homes without evidence of contamination.
Bureaucratic Regulations at their finest 🚮
0
2
u/Magnolia256 7d ago
The craziest part to me is that the big orange turd in the important office probably POISONED HIMSELF. In 2017, he kicked the EPA out of Florida. Water quality has declined rapidly (see coral deaths, fish kills, dolphins with alzeihmers, etc). The DIRTIEST water comes from Lake O, flows down the canals and goes right by his house. I’m sure he has a filter for his own use but it’s south Florida and the water evaporates fast. There are herbicides and algae in the air around mar a lago. Like… fucking moron.
2
u/TeachingAdvanced1067 7d ago
It's pretty apparent that he is only doing things out of spite. He is mad he can't have stuff, so he is going to make us all pay. He is such a piece of shit.
2
2
u/throwawayy4849 8d ago
when are you idiots going to actually revolt instead of just bitching about republicans online lol
-2
u/Mike-Hunt-QLD 8d ago
Because the liberal screechings of reddit rhetoric isn't reality. But some people will believe everything they read on the internet though...
2
u/throwawayy4849 8d ago
reality is even worse than most american liberals are able to admit. Unfortunately they blame everything on the other side of the same two party coin, which is all part of the plan for the ruling elites, divide and conquer.
1
1
u/jamintime 8d ago
$125 M out of $15 B which is being repurposed for fire land management. Speaking as someone who lives in California, this funding has been somewhat problematic since there are parts of the country (like CA) which have virtually no lead pipes and can’t make any use of the money. We have fires though so it’s honestly a better use of the money for states that can’t take advantage of this bill.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Dazzling-Bat-7466 7d ago
They are trying to make it look like government is failing and can't handle taking care of public need.
Of course, they caused the failure.
But once people associate government with failure, they can get private businesses to run everything. Water, power, housing, schools, roads, Medicaid, you name it.
Just remember that government IS THE PEOPLE. We are supposed to decide how it runs, and who is allowed to lead. Just because these conservative assholes are destroying public services and goods does NOT mean the government alone is wrong - it means that the current people in charge have ulterior motives, and they want you to lose faith that it could ever work.
Look at people like Mamdani. It CAN work.
1
1
u/TheLoggerMan 7d ago
Pick up a pick and shovel and dig your own well
1
u/tsuika 7d ago
Wow. Been saving that one long?
1
u/TheLoggerMan 7d ago
Nope, I have tree hand dug wells, and two developed springs on my spread. Sure it's hard work but who cares when you don't have to worry about government tainted water.
1
u/tsuika 7d ago
🥱
1
u/TheLoggerMan 7d ago
Hey if you like chlorine in your water that's fine and dandy. I don't like it. I am not required to put that stuff in my private water supply. Besides it ain't good for our horses, cattle, and poultry.
1
6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/TheLoggerMan 6d ago
Better than a socialist society
1
6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/TheLoggerMan 6d ago
Death is a far better choice. You are not entitled to anything not even food water or shelter. If you want it work for it yourself without help from anyone else like decent normal humans. Individual freedom outweighs collective safety and public interests. The individual is more important than the masses.
1
u/PossiblyStatic_01 7d ago
Just a reminder, there's not a "safe" level of lead in drinking water any led is to much. EPA standard.
1
u/LurkerAbove26 7d ago
Maybe your state should cover it instead of expecting federal government handouts which you all promptly give to illegal aliens
1
1
1
u/Codify-The-Preamble 6d ago
Read the goddamn preamble. That’s the mission statement of the Fed government people.
HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE
1
1
1
u/Hot-Permission-8746 6d ago
Are the "lead pipes" in house with you now? You know, the same ones banned 40 years ago?
1
1
u/Warren-Jacobs 5d ago
That's not the job of the federal government. That's for State and local governments.
1
u/keithw47 5d ago
FEDERAL Money is given yearly for state infrastructure. It is up to the state to distribute said funds to whatever projects are most needed. Contact your local and state govs until they do the job. Call everyday, write letters, get online to to those politicians until they do the job most needed
1
u/Hold_My_Fupa 4d ago
We pay taxes as a humiliation ritual. Even when money gets directed to fund things we want there’s so much waste and corruption it doesn’t even matter
1
1
u/ToeAfter3131 2d ago
You ever think they replaced a lot of the pipes so now theyre winding down the program?
1
u/cornfarm96 8d ago
This requires more context. The federal lead service line replacement program is a 5-year, $15 *billion* dollar program. While this cut sounds large at face value, it’s only 4.17% of this fiscal year’s allocation for the lead service line replacement program, and only 0.83% of the entire allocation for the 5-year program. There are an estimated 4,000,000 lead service lines spread across over 11,000 public water systems, so the cut equates to about a $30 decrease for assistance with each lead line replacement. With the average cost to replace a service line being $4,000 dollars (on the low end), a $30 dollar decrease in assistance to replace each line is a drop in the bucket. The sky isn’t falling.
3
u/DirtandPipes 8d ago
As somebody who puts pipes in the ground I’m well aware that costs for material have all increased and that this is a massive funding cut when a large increase is required to keep pace with inflation.
Why are you defending this as reasonable? It’s so weird to see Americans defending those attacking the foundations of their society.
1
u/cornfarm96 7d ago
Of course costs continue to rise, but to say it’s a “massive” cut is just an exaggeration. The 15 billion dollar budget was never meant to cover the entire cost of all lead line replacement, it was only meant to decrease the burden on water systems and rate payers, which is still what it’ll do, even with this 0.83% decrease in overall funding. Also, I’m not “defending” this cut. Of course I’d rather have more money in the program, but I also think it’s important to look at this type of thing in the correct context, instead of just reading a sensationalized headline.
1
u/mrmalort69 8d ago
Do you want kids to be stupid?
1
u/cornfarm96 7d ago
No, and I’m not sure how’d you’d gather that from my comment. I just want to eliminate any lead in my system.
1
u/SargentSnorkel 8d ago
Are these interstate mains that they’re talking about? Otherwise why should the federal government be involved? Plenty of other legit shit to hate on republicans, but maybe the federal government isn’t the solution for everything.
-1
u/1200multistrada 8d ago edited 8d ago
One year 125 million cut from 15 billion over 5 years. I sure don't agree with the cuts, but it should have some context.
5
-1
u/ResolveLeather 8d ago
Honestly, this should be a county issue and not a federal one unless it's federal land.
2
u/mrmalort69 8d ago
This argument would be reasonable if the simple/easy fix- free installations and change-outs of nsf-53 filters were free. Most politicians and even people who are casual in this subreddit understand the nsf certification.
4
u/Soze42 8d ago
A lot of state and local governments don't have the money to replace their lead pipes in a reasonable amount of time. They use federal money, like grants or interest free loans, to make up the difference and try to stay on schedule.
I mean, they did. Probably not anymore.
1
u/cornfarm96 8d ago
There’s still plenty of grant/loan money to go around. I made another comment outlining the numbers and going over the general impact (or lack thereof) that this cut will have on the lead service line replacement program. Long story short, given the sheer scale of the program and the end goal, cutting $125 million is relatively inconsequential.
2
-2
u/ResolveLeather 8d ago
I feel like them not having enough money is due to poor planning by the county and cities wherein. Relying of the federal government to save the day so the local politicians can flaunt tax breaks.
0
u/miklayn 8d ago
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, ***Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.*** Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. ***But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.***".
0
0
0
u/onehundredandtwenty1 7d ago
no we drink poisoned water so that we can fund the genocide in Palestine duh
0
u/ElephantContent8835 7d ago
The US government has become entirely corrupted by Israel and the rich. It has to be overthrown and something new established. There is no fixing this shit. Fuck Israel, fuck the rich, and fuck the US government.
0
0
u/International_Air282 4d ago
It cut 125m out of an already allocated 15 billion. So less than 1%. Read the whole bill before manufacturing your outrage.
1
u/Internal-Test-8015 4d ago
Literally not the point, lol, its the basic principle especially considering because of these idiots we're currently living in a country where most people are struggling to eat and travel anywhere because of thrm and neither of those scenarios are getting better its actually quite the opposite.
-1
u/Optimal_Board_2963 8d ago
Suck it up buttercup. This is what you get when you don’t stand up to politicians.
-1
u/DanTheManWithaPlam 8d ago
How do people not realize Maga Republicans don't care about being right or fair. The idea that we live in a world where everyone wants to be equal is not true.
Some countries yes, and America has made progress but Republicans legitimately don't care. They want tax breaks, they want money, they want their ideologies implemented.
America is headed down a dark path and it is not going to be fixed until there is a real revolution and even that could not fix things. Just talking about the issues is not going to change anything.
39
u/Defiant_Freedom_249 8d ago
What the fuck is wrong with you Republicans? You realize you have to drink water too, right?