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this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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Water and sewer are overwhelmingly public utilities in the US. This is more a case of small-time bureaucratic incompetence than corporate avarice -- think along the lines of your grandpa writing the default Wifi password on the front of the router because he can't remember it and doesn't know how to change it, except Grandpa is in charge of a rural water district, and the router is the control system for the chlorine treatment.
Where water service is expensive in the US it's usually because decades-old infrastructure built to support far-flung suburban development are starting to fall apart, and there was never a plan to pay for replacement. Some places are also being required by the EPA to separate ancient combined storm and sanitary sewers, which basically entails a complete replacement of the sewers at a cost of billions. Infrastructure is expensive to maintain, especially if you spend a few decades ignoring it first.
And when the rural communities can't afford to do the EPA mandated updates, they sell out to a publicly traded, for profit corporation...who raises basic utility fees multiple times over the short span they've owned and operated the infrastructure of the rural communities.
I'm not saying you're wrong in every instance, as what you've said holds true a lot of the time. Just not in this very specific, albeit anecdotal, instance.
So there is also the classic issue of underfunding of municipal services. Good luck getting qualified security people for what local government pays.