Comments on: Hey Lisa Madigan, Over Here! Lisle’s Illinois American Water Customers Need Relief

By: Hiram Wurf

Hiram Wurf — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 03:03:45 +0000

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for your informative comment. I haven’t checked out the info yet - but I know that a lot of companies (internationally) see water as a great opportunity for privatization and profit (often at the public expense in more than one meaning of the word “expense”). In this case it seems that American Water is really a disastrous company taking advantage of people. Beyond overcharging for water, which is bad enough, Illinois American is accused of not properly testing fire hydrants in Lisle - a public safety issue that could lead to real tragedy.

By: Jeffrey Crowell

Jeffrey Crowell — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:20:31 +0000

Illinois American Water, based in Belleville Illinois, is a subsid. of American Water, based in New Jersey, which is owned by the Essen Germany company- RWE Group.
American Water’s CEO, Donald L. Correll, is a large contributor to the Republican Party and Republican Congressmen. the PA-American Water PAC is a large contributor to Sen. Rick Santorum. Locally, the Media/Govt. Relations pointperson is Lisa Retsen. In the Metro East Illinois area it is Terry Mackin. Dan Thompson heads Business Development in the Chicago Area.
Although neither Biggert or Roskam appear to have direct contributions from any American Water PAC, the firm’s exposure to Republican Politics shows some influence.
RWE Group’s goals for American Water is for growth in cities and villages outsourcing their water management to Amer. Water to do quality tests, meter reading, billing/collections, and in maintaining facilities. RWE’s goal to stockholders is to INCREASE dividend by more than 15% and CUT COSTS by over 700 million Euros. But they are also negotiating to divest Amer. Water to an investor group by 2007.

By: Elizabeth Peery

Elizabeth Peery — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 04:43:06 +0000

You are right, Illinois State Attorney General Madigan deserves many thanks from Oak View residents. The investigation by the State, and with opening arguments in the Fall of 2006, this will definitely aid those residents in Oak View who have sustained many years of blatant discrimination by the Village of Lisle’s refusal to service the area and absence of oversight of a very important resource.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Peery
Former Village of Lisle Water Task Force Member
Oak View Resident

By: Marie

Marie — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 03:41:07 +0000

Just a few observations, since I live no where near Lisle.

One, I never heard of this, and I bet I’m not the only one who hasn’t. I’m really curious how a private water company comes to be delivering water and sewer to anyone in this country. I mean, that seems like something that should really be provided by a municipality. There should be a way for this community to divest itself from this water corporation in order to become water and sewer customers of the Village.

And, two, this may be a good example (or, rather, a bad example) of what can happen when a private corporation, that has no vested interst in the people it serves, is tasked with delivering services that should be delivered by government. Taxpayers and other government entities out to make a quick buck by selling off parts of itself, should take note of what’s going on here.

Good luck to the people in Lisle Oak View.