Alliance for Democracy and Barnstead NH Make History

First ordinance in the country to ban corporate theft of water and assert the rights of nature. Yes! magazine tells story of how the Alliance worked with citizens of Barnstead NH.

Communities Take Power
by Doug Pibel
The Citizens of Barnstead, New Hampshire, Used Local Law to Keep Corporate Giants Out of Their Water
Fall 2007: Stand Up to Corporate Power
YES! Magazine.

BARNSTEAD WATER RIGHTS & LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ORDINANCE as amended October, 2008
This ordinance passed in Barnstead Town Meeting in March 2006 has now been amended by the Board of Selectmen in October 2007 to include the Rights of Nature. The people of Barnstead will vote on these amendments at their March 2008 Town Meeting.

The unamended version of the ordinance can be accessed here.
For another accounting of how the Barnstead Ordinance got passed, see “US: New Hampshire Town Bans Corporate Water Withdrawals” by Kat Bundy, Susquehanna June 1st, 2006

Town of Barnstead, NH
Barnstead Home Page