Graphic organizer Grade 11 Social Studies & Civics
Four Ways a Town Can Own Its Water: A Grade 11 Governance Frame
A four-column comparison organizer for grade 11 civics, mapping ownership, rate setting, appeal routes, and voter access across four water governance models.
Objectives
- Students will compare four water governance models on ownership, rate setting, and appeal routes.
- Students will identify how a resident can influence a rate decision under each model.
- Students will name one intended and one unintended outcome of each governance model.
Vocabulary
- Special district
- A local government created to do one job, such as delivering water. It has its own board and its own budget, separate from the city or county.
- Investor-owned utility
- A water company owned by private shareholders instead of a city government. State regulators watch over the prices these companies are allowed to charge.
- Rate case
- The public process a utility goes through to change what it charges for water. Officials review the utility's costs, and customers can speak up before new rates are approved.
Also: intergovernmental agreement, revenue bond
Teacher overview
Public water systems in the United States are owned in several different ways, and the choice of form decides who sets the price, who hears a complaint, and how a resident can force a change. This organizer is a compare and contrast frame with four columns, one for each model, and seven labeled rows moving from ownership through accountability to consequences. The misconception it is built to correct is the assumption that a publicly owned system is automatically more accountable than a private one. Accountability depends on the route available to a resident, and an appointed regional board can be further from voters than a state commission that must hold a public rate case.
Organizer
Four communities appear in this frame, each of them fictional. Linthorpe runs its water system as a city department. Markyate is served by a special district. Pargeter is served by an investor-owned utility regulated by a state commission. Ridley Bank is served by a regional authority created by agreement among four towns.
Fill in every cell. Each row asks one question about all four models.
| Question | Linthorpe: city department | Markyate: special district | Pargeter: investor-owned utility | Ridley Bank: regional authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Who owns the pipes, plant, and tanks? | ||||
| 2. Who sets the rates, and through what public process? | ||||
| 3. Where does a customer take a billing dispute, and what is the next step after that? | ||||
| 4. Who may vote or petition to change the people making the decision, and when? | ||||
| 5. Where does money for a large capital project come from? | ||||
| 6. What is one outcome this model is designed to produce? | ||||
| 7. What is one unintended outcome to watch for? |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
| Question | Linthorpe: city department | Markyate: special district | Pargeter: investor-owned utility | Ridley Bank: regional authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Who owns the pipes, plant, and tanks? | The city owns them, and they sit on the city's books alongside streets and parks | The district owns them as a separate unit of local government created for water alone | A private company owns them, and its shareholders own the company | The authority owns them, created by an agreement among the four member towns |
| 2. Who sets the rates, and through what public process? | The elected city council, in the annual budget process with a public hearing | The district board, in an open meeting under the rules the district charter sets | A state public utility commission, in a formal rate case with testimony and a written record | The authority board, under the terms of the intergovernmental agreement, at a posted meeting |
| 3. Where does a customer take a billing dispute, and what is the next step after that? | The city billing office first, then the council or a city hearing officer | The district office first, then the district board at a public meeting | The company first, then the commission's consumer division, which can order a correction | The authority office first, then the board member appointed by the customer's own town |
| 4. Who may vote or petition to change the people making the decision, and when? | Any city voter, at the regular municipal election and at any council meeting | Any voter inside the district boundary, at district elections that are often held off cycle | No customer votes for the company, but any customer may comment or intervene in a rate case | Voters choose the town councils that appoint the board, so the influence is indirect |
| 5. Where does money for a large capital project come from? | Revenue bonds approved by the council, state revolving fund loans, and water rates | District revenue bonds and state loans, repaid only from district water revenue | Investor equity and corporate debt, with an allowed return built into approved rates | Authority revenue bonds backed by the payment commitments of the member towns |
| 6. What is one outcome this model is designed to produce? | Direct accountability, because the same elected body answers for water and for everything else | A dedicated organization whose revenue cannot be spent on unrelated city needs | Access to private capital and professional staff without a local tax increase | Scale, so treatment and staffing costs are spread across a much larger customer base |
| 7. What is one unintended outcome to watch for? | Rate increases postponed for political reasons until a failure forces a large one | Low turnout in off-cycle elections, so few residents know who sits on the board | Customers pay a profit component, and the decision maker sits at the state capital | The board is two steps from voters, and member towns can deadlock over where to invest |
Differentiation
Support
Give students the completed first column for Linthorpe and have them fill only the remaining three, using the Linthorpe entries as models for length and specificity. Provide a word bank containing council, board, commission, revenue bond, and rate case.
Extension
Have students add an eighth row asking which model a town should choose if its main problem is a shortage of qualified staff, then defend one answer in three sentences using entries already in the frame.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "district," "commission," "rate," and "bond" with a definition and one example each. Provide a partially completed frame in which every cell begins with a sentence starter such as "The rates are set by ___" so students supply the noun rather than the whole clause.
Extensions
Students find out which of the four models serves their own address by checking the water bill or the utility's website, then write a paragraph naming the route they would take to challenge a rate increase under that model.