Agreement reached to sell Veolia’s regulated water business in the UK

First significant step of the €5 billion asset divestment program before end 2013
Net debt reduction of € 1.450bn

Paris, 28 June 2012. Today, Veolia Environnement’s wholly owned subsidiary, Veolia Water UK PLC, has agreed to sell the UK regulated water activities of Veolia Environnement to Rift Acquisitions Limited(a) for a total transaction value of £1,236 million(b).

 
Following completion of this transaction, Veolia Environnement’s net debt will be reduced by around £1,165million(c)  (€1,450(d)million) as a consequence of the sale. Veolia Environnement will retain, in addition to its non regulated water business, an interest in the UK regulated water business through Veolia Water UK’s retained 10% equity interest in the divested business for a period of at least 5 years.

 

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Arrest of Marco Arana

Marco Arana, the leader of the movement against CONGA (a giant mining project which is threatening to drain the lakes supplying groundwater in the region of Cajamarca) was arrested on 4th July.

The “CONGA no Va” movement was presented in a “Right to Water” workshop session at FAME (Françoise Chambeu) and in a “Water and Extractivism” workshop (Raquel Neyra).

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Water Justice Activists Demand Action 2nd Anniversary UN Human Right to Water Resolution

 July 28, 2012 marks the two-year anniversary of the historic United Nations General Assembly resolution recognizing the Human Right to Water and Sanitation.

As members of the global water justice movement we are deeply concerned to see little progress being made towards the full implementation of this right as governments aggressively pursue false solutions to the environmental and economic crises that will only deepen the water injustices that our organizations and communities have been fighting for decades. 

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