202105.02
In Philly suburbs, sewer systems are for sale, and citizens push back, fearing rate hikes

Lisa Lilick and Carol Smith struggled to get fellow Conshohocken residents to pay attention to their campaign opposing the sale of the borough’s sewer system. Who wants to think about boring wastewater when there’s a pandemic going on?
“Then Carol, she did the little thing with a toilet,” said Lilick.
The “little thing” was a simple image that Smith dug up on a Google search, a cartoon commode with a worried expression and the palm of its hand held up. “No to sewer sale,” the cartoon toilet intoned. “Bad for residents, seniors, fixed income.”
Lilick said her online posts about sewer rates suddenly found an audience. A Facebook page was launched, local bloggers took note, a petition was organized, and yard signs went up. Scores of angry residents tuned in to borough Zoom meetings, worried that their elected officials were trying to pull a fast one.
The campaign worked. The Conshohocken council voted abruptly on March 17 to walk away from a $52 million offer for the sewer system, which council had been quietly exploring for two years. Afterward, Council President Colleen Leonard scolded residents to “become a little more involved instead of waiting until you’re in a panic mode and really don’t have all the facts you need to really decide something.”
If what we have here is failure to communicate, Conshohocken is not alone.
Grassroots campaigns have emerged in several towns around Philadelphia opposing sales of municipal water and wastewater systems, energized by distrustful residents who fear their towns are trading a one-time cash windfall for perpetual higher sewer rates under private owners.
