Avoiding Water Sales
Dear Editor: Cape Town is set to become the first major city to run out of their municipal water supply as soon as July 9. At that point, 4,000,000 residents will have a daily allocation of 25 liters of water to be picked up at locations around the city – a city with a long history of segregation before, during, and after apartheid.
It is in this context that the City of Sitka (via the Gary Paxton Industrial Park board) agreed to a contract with a meat and wine distributor (GreenGold Distributors) in Cape Town, South Africa, for the sale of up to 1 billion gallons of water a year.
In this strange way, we have become potential participants in a looming humanitarian crisis on the other side of the world. Do we, as the City of Sitka, want to have a say in what our participation looks like?
When I first read the Sentinel story about this deal, I worried that we might be selling our water to a bad actor, a distributor of meat and wine that seems poised to offer our water as a luxury good to those who can afford it.
I was heartened, somewhat, reading the two-pronged business plan from GreenGold – “The first opportunity we see is in helping the Cape Town municipality supply water to its citizens.” I remain worried that the lucrative opportunity of the second prong – “providing corporate client needs and even certain individuals with 20-inch containers with flexitanks” – could overpower the first civic responsibility, but at least they have the municipality in mind as a prospective customer.
There are a lot of maybes and ifs involved in this deal, and so there is a decent chance that this strange circumstance doesn’t come to fruition. ... We may not have the opportunity to be glad that our water helped resolve a crisis and we may not have to feel the regret that our water traveled the world only to get used by the highest strata of an unequal society. But it seems to be something that we should think a bit more about.
Jakarta, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Melbourne are among the cities that could run out of water in coming decades. This may not be the last time that Sitka gets caught up in an ethical water dilemma.
I propose that the City of Sitka establish a policy for international sales whereby we celebrate our bountiful water by only catering to sellers who are willing to acknowledge water as a basic human right – sellers who will prioritize acting as an agent to governments, municipalities, or human rights organizations which will equitably distribute the water.
Peter Bradley, Sitka
Family Fiesta
Dear Editor: Sitkans Against Family Violence wants to thank you for your great story in the last weekender announcing our event, the Family Fiesta at the ANB Founders Hall. We had a full house and experienced another successful fundraiser for this organization.
We want to thank all who supported us in this event: ANB Camp 1 and ANS Camp 4 for allowing us to rent the hall and kitchen; Sea Mart, Sitka Sound Seafoods, and the Mt. Edgecumbe High School kitchen for generous food donations; Ken Fate for his skills and energy as an auctioneer; the kitchen crew Michelle Mahoney, Cisco Mahoney, Heather Riggs, Natalie Wojcik, Alivia Crowl and Cheri Hample; volunteers of Mt. Edgecumbe High School students Grace Garner, Johanna Galovska, Tyra Brown, Vernae Ramoth, Jasmine Woods, Samantha Wade, and Brayden Bahnke; and other volunteers Mary Levesque, Karen Boyer, Tina Bachmeier, Michael Mahoney and Larry Edwards. We thank the Sentinel, Raven Radio, KIFW, and the Sitka Soup for other publicity.
Our unlimited gratitude goes out to all the generous donors who delighted our hearts and palates with the most creative and delightful desserts, from Buckeyes to Turkish delight, pies, cheesecakes and fancy tarts. We also thank everyone who bid and thus contributed to the financial success of the evening.
SAFV’s mission is to provide empowerment-based safety and advocacy services to victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence while promoting a community of non-violence and respect. All services are free. Thanks to everyone who supports this organization.
Sitkans Against Family Violence
Board and Staff
