Madrid votes over future of water supply

Volunteers across Madrid urged passersby to vote in an informal referendum on Sunday over the region’s plans to privatize 49 percent of Canal de Isabel II, the public water authority.

Anyone over 16 was eligible to vote in the joint initiative organized by left-wing parties, green groups, neighborhood associations and others who oppose the privatization plans of the conservative government of Madrid.

The results of the non-binding vote were due to be released on Monday morning, and serve as a gauge of citizen sentiment regarding an institution that has been delivering water to Madrid for the last 150 years.

In late 2008, the Popular Party (PP) administration of Esperanza Aguirre opened the door to selling off 49 percent of Canal’s shares on the stock market. The economic crisis postponed the IPO for nearly two years, and it seemed as if the regional government had forgotten all about its plans. But shortly before the last regional elections in May 2011, deputy premier (and Canal chief) Ignacio González announced that the operation was being reactivated. Now authorities are saying the public offering will take place before the summer.

Aguirre has called Canal de Isabel II “a safe investment,” because “everybody drinks water,” whatever the economic climate.

Opponents have scrambled to stop the move, so far to no avail. “We handed the regional government 37,000 signatures against the privatization, and we asked for a referendum. We were ignored,” said Ladislao Martínez, spokesman for the grassroots movement Plataforma contra la privatización del Canal de Isabel II. “We want to draw attention to an opaque process in which the government refuses to specify the value of the Canal, even in the Assembly.”

“Water belongs to everybody,” said one retired woman who voted against the privatization on Sunday. To her, the move would just result in fewer jobs and higher consumer fees.