An international critic of privatizing public water utilities warned a Stockton gathering Friday that problems afflicting his native country could spill into this city if its leaders hire a private operator to run Stockton's water and wastewater systems over the next two decades.

Rudolf Amenga-Etego, chairman of the National Campaign Against the Privatization of Water in Ghana, said early efforts by the World Bank to bring multinational corporations -- two of which have ties to companies competing for contracts in Stockton -- into the country's once-public water system already have caused rates in some regions to soar.

"They come in as people who are trying to help out," Amenga-Etego told a small lunch crowd at the downtown offices of the Service Employees International Union Local 790.

But, he warned, "you'll find yourself draining your community to pay for their profit margin," Amenga-Etego said.

The Ghanaian lawyer's appearances at the SEIU luncheon and at a later University of the Pacific forum were sponsored by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that opposes three private companies' efforts to win a 20-year contract to operate Stockton's water utilities.

Suez and Vivendi Environnement, the parent companies of Stockton bidders United Water and USFilter, respectively, are vying for long-term operations control of Ghana's urban water system.

Initial privatization efforts in Ghana's rural areas have led to a 95 percent increase in water rates over just the past year, Amenga-Etego said, an enormous problem in a country of 19 million people where the average person earns less than $400 yearly.

Bidding companies in Ghana have said private operations will bring badly needed efficiencies and improvements to the country's deteriorating water system.

In Stockton, meanwhile, Mayor Gary Podesto has said criticism of bidders' international actions has nothing to do with the city's potential contract, and the city would never -- and could never legally -- allow any private company to control its water rights.

But Amenga-Etego said the contracting companies rarely come to a city or country with the announced intention of taking control of a water system.

"It's the same everywhere," he said. "Once they get one foot in the door, the other follows."

Moreover, Amenga-Etego said, Stockton should consider whether it wants to do business with a company that employs what he and other critics see as unfair water practices overseas.

"Is it worth it in the morning that you can turn on your tap ... and flush your toilet when someone across the globe cannot turn on their tap just for a sip of water?" Amenga-Etego said.

Friday's lunch speech was attended by a number of privatization critics but no elected city officials.