ABSTRACT
The privatization of Atlanta's water system, the largest public-private contract of its kind in the country, generated a considerable amount of national attention, even if some of it simply served as a cautionary tale against corporate profiteering and predation. This chapter argues that Atlanta's difficulties in stewarding its water-related infrastructure are also indicative of a broader struggle to adequately manage the region's limited water resources. Water pollution became the focus of downstream angst during the 1960s, particularly after the federal government declared in 1965 that the Chattahoochee River was "grossly polluted for about 100 miles below Atlanta". Atlanta has experienced economic and demographic dynamism on par with the most resolute of American cities. The chapter illuminates the costs and consequences of the city's belated attempts to properly manage its limited water resources. Let us hope that Atlanta has learned from its past mistakes and opts for more comprehensive-and sustainable-environmental policies for the twenty-first century.
