Some communities who want to buy their water works are pressuring RWE shareholders to sell some of its water utilities to the communities they serve.  The mayor of Urbana, Illinois, Laurel Prussing, decided to go a step further — she’s there in person.  You have to admire the tenacity of communities like Urbana, Lexington (Ky.), and Monterey (Cal.), but so far RWE has continued to give them all the same answer:

An RWE spokesman said the company didn’t want to sell American Water piecemeal.

“We see American Water as one entity and that all of these qualities that it has makes it unique and makes it a good partner for the communities,” Bill McAndrews told The Associated Press.

I found it interesting that this company appears to have resistance efforts down to a science.  Just as they did in Illiniois when Peoria was trying to buy the water works, they did a survey of their customers and found that a good majority of them were happy with their water service:

[McAndrews] added the company, which was founded in 1886 and acquired by RWE in September 2001, had consistently drawn praise from its customers.

“They recently put out a questionnaire nationwide and the response was that 93 percent of their customers were satisfied,” McAndrews said. “Eighty-nine percent said they delivered what they promise and 83 percent said they can trust American Water.”

Of course, the mayors claim their water service is terrible.  In any event, it’s looking more and more like the only choice for Illinois communities (other than Peoria, which has a buy-back option in their contract), if they want to buy their water works, is to get legislation passed that will allow them to force a sale without going through the ICC.

Hope Mayor Prussing enjoys her trip to the old country.