Keep Our Water Local

Local service. Local accountability.

Child washing hands next to parent

What’s Happening

More than 14,000 residents in Southwest Fort Wayne currently receive sewer service through Aqua Indiana, a company that is not based in Fort Wayne and has no local oversight. Many of those residents may not realize it, but that sewer service will soon be owned by a different private, out-of-state company.

Fort Wayne’s award-winning water has been flowing from your taps for years. But Aqua Southwest has announced plans to sell your separate sewer service to the largest investor-owned water and wastewater utility in the country. For more than 14,000 Fort Wayne residents, families and businesses, the sale raises important questions about future rates, service decisions, local oversight and accountability.

View Aqua announcement

What’s at Stake?

  • Vital Services Matter

    Water and sewer aren’t optional services. They are essential to daily life.

  • Local Decisions Matter

    When ownership moves out of the community, so do decisions.

  • Communities Come First

    Private utility companies are structured to generate returns for shareholders rather than prioritize the best interests of residents and the community.

    Headwaters Park Fort Wayne Indiana

    The Local Difference

    Local utilities reinvest in Fort Wayne and operate with public input and transparency. With private utilities, a portion of the money customers pay on their bills can leave the community instead of being reinvested directly into the local system. The bottom line is simple: when it’s local, the money stays here. When it’s not, it doesn’t.

    Woman looking at bills on phone

    Rates and Accountability

    A rate increase is already moving forward for the third quarter of 2026. If the sale goes through, future rate decisions could remain outside local review and approval — and decisions about sewer service would move even farther away from the Fort Wayne residents, families and businesses affected by them. That means residents could have less direct visibility into how decisions are made and fewer opportunities to provide input locally on sewer rates and service.

    Once ownership changes, it’s very difficult to reverse.

    • Keep it Local

      Essential utility services should remain under local oversight.

    • Keep it Simple

      Many residents already manage separate water and sewer bills. Keeping ownership local creates an opportunity to explore a simpler, more coordinated approach in the future.

    • Keep it Aligned

      There’s an opportunity to simplify services and keep them aligned locally.

    • Keep it Community first

      A move to sell would take things in the opposite direction.

      Ask yourself: What’s right for Fort Wayne?

      What can you do?

      You can contact Fort Wayne City Utilities and ask them to purchase the sewer system to keep ownership and management local.

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