If you were to tell an outsider that our tiny state is home to 28 separate major water suppliers, each with its own rate and management structure, the stranger would marvel at our provincialism. Enabling the voluntary coordination of many of these individual water suppliers into one statewide authority will lead to efficiencies and rate stability that will benefit all Rhode Island water consumers.
It was surprising, and very disappointing, to read Cranston Mayor Allan Fung’s opposition to this idea (“Elorza’s bad deal for Rhode Island,” Commentary, May 11). Mayor Fung seems satisfied to abandon or delay serious issues that impact Rhode Island communities. For too long, this conversation has been put off “until next year.” The Rhode Island Cooperative Water Authority provides a sensible, voluntary solution that would be good for Providence and good for Rhode Island.
As it stands now, the Providence Water Supply Board (PWSB) acts as a department of the City of Providence, even as it serves 16 cities and towns and about 60 percent of the residents of Rhode Island. Keeping the status quo benefits no one. The communities outside of Providence are dependent upon an entity which is entirely unaccountable to the communities’ taxpayers; and the capital city shoulders the responsibility of water management for the majority of the state, a burden it should not have to bear.
If Mayor Fung truly cared about the residents of Cranston, he would want to ensure that they weren’t beholden to another city for something as essential as their water supply. It seems, however, that Mayor Fung is more concerned with scoring political points than working to address this problem.
It is time for the state to take the lead in protecting Rhode Island’s water resources. Providence shouldn’t bear the responsibility for planning, financing and production of Rhode Island’s water resources. That’s not good for the city or the state.
The creation of a statewide, cooperative water supply authority would enable all communities to benefit through greater cooperation, preservation, distribution and management of our most fundamental natural resource — water. The Rhode Island Cooperative Water Authority would establish an independent statewide board that could better serve the residents of his city, as well as those in other communities. Its benefits for the state would be many.
It ensures long-term rate stability. A larger system will enable greater efficiencies and act to stabilize rates for those systems which choose to join.
It provides better management of finite resources.
It gives all communities a voice.
It keeps the system public.
It is completely voluntary.
Would an acquisition of PWSB benefit the City of Providence, and help with challenges such as the pension liability? I’m sure it would. Improving the financial footing of the city is a benefit to the state, not a detriment, just as having a statewide water authority would be beneficial to all Rhode Islanders. And it’s a bit hypocritical for Mayor Fung to criticize Providence for taking such an approach having just undertaken a $300 reamortization of his own underfunded local police and fire pension fund, as well as a separate refinance of Cranston’s sewer plant debt.
There can be no economic development without a sufficient water supply. In fact, there is plenty of water in Rhode Island — the Scituate Reservoir, for one, has significant excess supply now. Yet in some communities, particularly in the southern end of the state, water shortages cause hardships to homeowners and development. It is time that we all work together to address this serious challenge.
We will be working together with the City of Providence and all stakeholders on the language of the legislation we sponsored, on behalf of the city, as we move forward in the legislative process in the coming weeks. It is our hope that those who have been critical of the proposal will put down the stones they’ve been throwing from the sidelines and join with us as we work to solve this important issue.
— Maryellen Goodwin is the Senate majority whip. Scott A. Slater is the House deputy majority leader. Both are Democrats from Providence.