In 2003, against the wishes of many Stockton residents in the state of California, the city signed a 20-year contract with the company OMI-Thames to manage its wastewater, water and stormwater system.

The Concerned Citizens Coalition of Stockton (CCOS), joined by the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County, filed a lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act to halt the project until it allowed for public participation. Judges twice ruled in favor of the groups, and on July 17, city officials voted to rescind their appeal and dissolve the deal.

Food and Water Watch, a group that challenges corporate control of water resources, termed the Stockton agreement the "most notorious water privatization deal in the United States."

"It's both symbolic for the anti-water privatization movement, and it's a real victory for the citizens' groups of Stockton -- it means that the ordeal of water privatization is over for the city of 270,000 people," says Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch.

But the battle has just begun, it is felt. More than 80 percent of Americans fill their glasses with water owned and managed by public utilities -- a market for growth that has CEOs rubbing their hands in glee.