On May 20, 2025, an overwhelming 78.7% of voters voted YES on a ballot referendum for public water in Pittsburgh! This is a huge win for environmental justice, and Fair Shake is excited that we got to play a role as part of a large coalition in the creation and passage of this referendum!

Why is Public Water Important?

Water is a human right, and we should protect water as a public resource rather than allowing it to become a commodity for profit. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania has seen an increase in efforts to privatize our water in recent years. According to Food and Water Watch, 1 in 3 Pennsylvanians are served by a private water system, as compared to the national average of 1 in 10.

Privatized water systems have been shown to cause an increase to water rates. In Pennsylvania, some residents have seen price hikes as high as 100% or even 280% (!), forcing families to bear another financial burden on a service that is essential. Both their rates and management practices are influenced by their pressure to report profitable margins to shareholders and investors, rather than simply being held accountable to the customers they serve.

This vote added an amendment to the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter to protect our water systems from privatization. The effort to place this question on the ballot was community-led by Pittsburgh United’s Our Water Table Coalition. The referendum received broad support by Mayor Gainey, Pittsburgh City Council, Pittsburgh Water (formally known as Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority), and many more.

How did Fair Shake Support?

For the past three years, Fair Shake’s Community Democracy Program has been supporting communities by building connections within and between communities; facilitating engagement, education, and resources, tools, and templates on environmental justice issues and ideas in support of community goals. The third Community Democracy goal is to support community-driven local policy and process changes that support stronger environmental justice systems and outcomes. We are excited to celebrate the passage of this ballot referendum as our first policy and process change goal!

Building Connections:

Over the past three years, Shawn, one of our Community Democracy Coordinators, has been building relationships and supporting partners across Southwestern Pennsylvania, including with community coalitions working with Pittsburgh United. Shawn asked Brooke, a Fair Shake Equal Justice Works Fellow focused on lead safety, to join a conversation to explore how we can support the goals of Our Water Table. Like almost all nonprofit conversations, this one started off thinking about one specific idea – lead safety – but ended up exploring lots of different ways we could partner together.

Legal “Translation” + Bridging Information:

Around that same time, the Our Water Table Coalition found out that there was a contract that said Public Water could be sold later in the year. This led to a lot of questions, and they reached back out to Brooke for help understanding what the contract is, what it said, and what it would mean for water access.

After obtaining a copy of the Capital Lease Agreement, Brooke read all contractual language and helped to ‘translate’ the legalese in the contracts for Our Water Table members. The group was correct - Pittsburgh Water had the option to purchase the water systems for $1 in September 2025. Further, the numerous vacancies on Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s board and the upcoming mayoral election caused concern that future decision-makers could make the decision to privatize the water system. The coalition knew what privatized water would mean for rate payers and environmental justice, and knew something had to be done.

Researching and Educating about Legal and Policy Levers:

From there, the coalition made it a goal to try and keep Pittsburgh water’s system public. Brooke did research on various legal and policy levers that would help the coalition meet that goal and then shared that research with the coalition to help them see a range of options they could think about. The group saw that a ballot referendum was the leading legal lever that would provide the most protection as possible.

Next, Brooke did a deeper-dive into the process to help the coalition understand what the ballot referendum process looked like. The state of PA does not provide a constitutional right to ballot referendum, instead it is provided by statute that gives two ways to get a ballot referendum passed: (1) manage a petition to collect thousands of signatures (5% of the number of electors that voted for the Office of Governor in last gubernatorial general election) or (2) request that City Council pass an ordinance to initiate the ballot referendum. Knowing these options, the coalition decided to advocate for Council to initiate this ballot referendum.

Drafting Legal and Policy Templates:

Next up – figuring out what could be presented to Council. The coalition provided Brooke with an example of a ballot referendum they liked from another city. Knowing the coalition’s goals, Brooke drafted several versions of the ballot referendum versions that provided broad protections. She explained the differences to the coalition, and the coalition identified which version most met its needs.

Strategizing and Messaging:

Now that the coalition knew their legal levers and was armed with examples from other cities and ballot referendum template specific to the City of Pittsburgh, Brooke continued to be part of strategy coalition calls. During this time, Brooke and Shawn participated in power analysis, drafted agendas for Council meetings, as well as helped prepare for and participated in meetings with City staff to provide education about the ballot referendum.

During Council meetings, Brooke let the community’s voice be centered. When Council amended the ballot referendum template language, Brooke helped explain the changes to the coalition to help them make an informed decision as to whether to accept the amended version.

The coalition celebrated when Council passed the ordinance to put it on the ballot.

Engaging Community and Amplifying Issues:

As an organization, we made the decision to endorse and support this ballot referendum. This was the first time our organization endorsed a policy; however, we felt it was critical to ensure equitable and reliable access to water for all residents.

Brooke drafted a blog to help provide community education. Most importantly, this blog to helped explain to nonprofits that it is legally permissible for 501(c)(3) organizations to endorse ballot referendums. Shawn took the blog, along with other educational materials that coalition partners made, and went out into the community--hosting our own tabling and happy hour events, tabling at partner events, and sharing information on college campuses and in local coalitions. This education was critical, as Shawn recognized that most people didn’t know that the water system could become privatized, or about the ballot referendum question in general. Shawn talked with residents so they knew they could vote on this issue in the upcoming primary, as well as educate organizations that were present at the same event. This included talking with a wide range of partners, including many who were not part of traditional environmental coalitions and spaces.

Our own Fair Shake team was excited to vote ‘yes’, and celebrated once the measure passed!

How Can We Help You?

As environmental justice and law nonprofit, we are excited to support systems-change that strengthen environmental justice outcomes. This can include: