The Boy Who Cried Wolf: Inside the “Dirty Deal” to Sell Fairfield County’s Water.
By Solar the Spokesdog, through pack leader Matthew Hallock
Last summer, on June 26th and 27th, 2024, cries of “emergency” echoed through the halls of Connecticut’s capitol. Several elected officials called a special session to advance the sale of our water company, Aquarion, to the New Haven-based Regional Water Authority (RWA). But an examination of the facts reveals the only emergency was a manufactured one, designed to push through a bad deal buried inside another bill, against the public’s wishes and without our consent.
For the nearly one million residents of Fairfield County, this is the culmination of a multi-year plan that threatens our environment, our finances, and our privacy. To understand how we got here, you have to look back.
Our local water utility began as the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company in 1857. But in 1991, its holding company became the Aquarion Company, and its mission fundamentally changed. It was no longer just a community steward; it became a commodity, an acquisition vehicle sold first to the British Kelda Group (2000), then to Australia’s Macquarie mining company and then the bank they set up (2006), and finally to the energy giant Eversource in 2017. Now, in 2025, Eversource wants out, and the public is being asked to bless a sweetheart deal with its long-time competitor, the RWA.
This deal doesn’t just raise questions; it demands answers:
- Environmental Justice: Who is liable for the decades of environmental transgressions in Bridgeport, including the 200-year-old lead pipes that still threaten our community? This deal appears to defy three separate White House Executive Orders on Environmental Justice.
- The Lead Pipe Secret: Utilities had until October 16, 2024, to reveal the full extent of their lead pipe problem to federal regulators. And plastics in drinking water has made national headlines in recent years. Has the public, including RWA, seen a full, uncensored report and the massive cost of replacement, or is Fairfield County being set up to pay the environmental justice bill?
- Privacy & Security: What customer data was shared between these entities without our consent? Has a full cybersecurity audit been performed to protect our critical infrastructure? What about the physical security of our watersheds: are we at risk of an attack?
We believe there is a better way. We believe in a community’s right to control its own essential resources. That is why we are proposing the formation of a new, true public utility for the 23 towns of Fairfield County, grounded in a new People’s Authority Bill of Rights.
This Bill of Rights asserts our fundamental rights: The Right to Water, The Right to Local Control, The Right to Trust our Suppliers, The Right to Clean & Healthy Water at the Lowest Possible Cost, and the Right to demand the highest standards of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices from the entity that controls our most precious resource.
This is more than a corporate transaction; it’s a fight for the future of Fairfield County. The plan to cede our water rights must be stopped.
In our next article: We will investigate the energy duopoly and their plan to make you pay for a billion-dollar debt you didn’t create.
