American Water Works – Racial Equity Audit (2023)

Outcome: 40% vote in favor of the proposal

Resolved: Shareholders urge the board of directors to oversee a third-party audit (within a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost) which assesses and produces recommendations for improving the racial impacts of its policies, practices, products, and services, above and beyond legal and regulatory matters. Input from stakeholders, including civil rights organizations, employees, and customers, should be considered in determining the specific matters to be assessed. A report on the audit, prepared at reasonable cost and omitting confidential/proprietary information, should be published on the company’s website.

Racial equity audits engage companies in a process that internal actions may not replicate, potentially unlocking value, uncovering blind spots, and examining external impacts.

American Water states it “has a strong commitment to employee inclusion, diversity and equity so that we reflect the customers and communities we serve.” Its workforce of 74 percent white, 11 percent Black, 6 percent Latino, 2 percent Asian, and <1 percent Native American and Pacific Islander people fails to reflect the demographics of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, and California, representing 75 percent of operating revenues and 71 percent of its customers.[1] American Water’s diversity reporting is not clear about the level of racial and ethnic diversity that has been achieved at executive committee, named executive officer, and board level. Though the company reports having annual goals to increase diversity, they are not public and shareholders cannot evaluate the efficacy of the initiatives.

American Water is also implicated in an environmental justice controversy in Marina, California, where a third of the residents are low-income and many speak limited English.[2] The company’s proposed desalination plant in Marina would not supply any of the treated water to the town, which already contains a landfill, a sewage plant, and a sand mine.[3] In addition, California American Water in Monterey, which includes Marina, was the most expensive water system in the country in 2017 after previously holding ninth place in 2015.[4] We believe the company must consider environmental justice in project planning as it may present ongoing operational and legal risk.

In 2020, former CEO Walter Lynch publicly stated that the company works nationally to pass water privatization legislation and supported H.B. 1416 in Maryland, which community organizations, including the NAACP, opposed.[5] Such legislation may have detrimental impacts to communities of color: Black and Latino communities are likelier to experience water affordability issues.[6] Maryland’s population is 53 percent non-white, with 42.5 percent being Black or Latino, and 27 percent of such communities living below the poverty line.[7] One study examining 500 of the largest community water systems in America attributed privatized water systems as the leading cause of higher water bills and the second dominant factor in affordability issues for low-income communities.[8]

We urge the company to conduct a racial equity audit to examine its total impact and help dismantle systemic racism.

[1] https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=race%20and%20ethnicity%20in%20california,%20new%20jersey,%20illinois,%20pennsylvania,%20and%20missouri

[2] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-15/cal-am-desalination-coastal-commission-marina-california

[3] https://www.montereyherald.com/2022/09/07/cal-am-receives-thumbs-up-from-regulator-for-desal-project-application/

[4] https://www.publicwaternow.org/most_expensive_water

[5] https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/cmte_testimony/2020/ehe/3104_03052020_10315-128.pdf

[6] https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/Water_Report_FULL_5_31_19_FINAL_OPT.pdf

[7] http://mapadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Maryland-Poverty-Profiles_2020-FINAL.pdf

[8] https://iwaponline.com/wp/article/24/3/500/87702/Water-pricing-and-affordability-in-the-US-public