I\u2019ve looked forward to Tuesdays for the past eight weeks. I leave my desk a little early and head downtown to learn about the city I love and the challenges it\u2019s up against. The seminars have been exciting, enlightening and sometimes completely heartbreaking. This was especially true of our most recent seminar, which hosted Sister Mary Ellen (thanks Demario for your help! :)) and Food and Water Watch Senior Organizer Lynna Kaucheck.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t miss the sharp irony of calmly sipping delicious cool water while watching a video about Detroit\u2019s water shutoffs. The video and discussion left me astounded and breathless with rage and disbelief. I was overcome with a \u201cscrew corporate America\u201d feeling. I had to confront what I take for granted every single day: the ability to take showers, flush toilets, cook and keep myself hydrated. I drink such a ridiculous amount of water that I have no idea what I would do if it became a scarce or even completely unavailable resource.<\/p>\n
Yet this is the brutal reality for about 41,000 Detroiters. It\u2019s so unbelievable to me that this could happen here in Michigan when we\u2019re surrounded by the Great Lakes<\/a>, which provide 21% of the world\u2019s supply of surface fresh water. Like many of the issues non-profits tackle, the water shutoffs are complicated (as I understand them). While watching Lynna\u2019s video, I realized I really need the situation to be broken down for me on an elementary-school level. There are so many parts to this very evident problem that I don\u2019t know where to start. To begin to understand how and why it\u2019s come to this, I outlined a brief synopsis and timeline using Food and Water Watch’s May 2015 brief<\/a>:<\/p>\n –2006:<\/strong> Detroit City Council approved Water Affordability Plan; DWSD makes their own program instead, the Detroit Residential Water Assistance Program (in my mind, assistance should be in air quotes\u2026this post is clearly not without its biases) There are so many incredibly complicated layers to this overwhelming issue that I don\u2019t know where to begin. When I laid out the course of events above, a confounding pattern emerged: DWSD would raise the rates and then disconnect people unable to pay those steep prices.\u00a0 This makes no sense.<\/p>\n I was especially touched by Sister Mary Ellen\u2019s anecdotes. I\u2019m amazed that some people have been living without water for two years (!). Even a week without water would be depressing and challenging to say the least. Sister Ellen said\u00a0that at an elementary school, teachers told their students not to mention it if their water had been shut off, because they would be obligated to report it to Child Services and that child would likely be removed from their home and placed in foster care. Lynna pointed out that the shutoffs have both public health and social consequences \u2013 imagine going to school and being labeled a smelly kid because you\u2019re unable to bathe. Sister Ellen put together hygiene packages for the students, but they were unable to use them \u2013 what\u2019s the point of soap when there\u2019s no water to activate it?<\/p>\n It seems to me that Detroit is bearing the brunt of this mess. \u00a0Detroit foots the bill, leaving residents with huge bills to repay. What appears to be an entirely arbitrary decision left Detroit to pay for 83% of the water bill, while suburbs pay only 17%.<\/p>\n Still, the problem has bled into Flint and Highland Park (emphasizing the importance of Detroit\u2019s well-being \u2013 it is the nexus of everything, the epicenter from which ripple effects radiate). Highland Park didn\u2019t issue water bills for 3 \u00bd years, but I think\u00a0Detroit is threatening to shut off its water this August. \u00a0Meanwhile, Flint\u2019s emergency manager decided to draw their water from the Flint River, but it\u2019s highly contaminated. \u00a0As a result, it requires a tremendous amount of chlorine to treat it, which makes the pipes leach, causing lead poisoning and creating a general public health emergency. The water is actually so corrosive that GM won\u2019t even use it to make its cars. There is a plan to build a new pipeline, but this doesn\u2019t mean that Flint residents will get pure lake water.<\/p>\n
\n–> DRWAP only applies to customers whose water is already shut off \u201cor faces pending shutoffs\u201d
\n–March 2013:<\/strong> Governor Rick Snyder appoints Kevyn Orr as Detroit\u2019s emergency manager
\n–July 2013:<\/strong> Detroit declares bankruptcy
\n–>\u00a0Orr proposes leasing water systems to regional authority; it would take over DWSD
\n–March 2014:<\/strong> Orr announces plans to privatize DWSD; counties rejected request for information; confidential mediation begins; DWSD announces its water shutoff campaign
\n–> Regionalization proposal passes
\n–> Plans to \u201cdisconnect service for 1,500-3,000 city customers every week for nonpayment\u201d
\n–July 2014:<\/strong> \u201cDWSD raised residential water and sewage rates by 8.7%\u201d
\n-August 2014: Mayor Duggan and DWSD create 10\/30\/50 payment plan; available exclusively to those who are \u201calready behind on their water bills\u201d (I\u2019m wondering who decides which residents are eligible for program enrollment? Although the payment plan doesn\u2019t seem all that helpful anyhow\u2026)
\n–> Amount owed is not actually reduced (a fundamental problem as I see it)
\n–September 2014:<\/strong> Great Lakes Regional Authority created; will lease Detroit\u2019s water systems
\n–> Unelected, appointed officials now in control of water and sewer services (!!! \u2013 So they\u2019re doling out this fundamentally necessary resource as if it\u2019s a commodity?)
\n(-February-May 2015:<\/strong> Ongoing confidential talks about lease arrangement) (The privacy level makes me suspicious)
\n–February 2015:<\/strong> Detroit\u2019s unemployment rate reportedly 12.5% (this is twice the national rate)
\n–March 2015:<\/strong> DWSD\u2019s Board of Water Commissioners vote to increase rates by combined 12.8%
\n–April 2015:<\/strong> \u201cOf the 24,743 residential customers enrolled in the 10-point plan, only about 300 were able to keep up with their payments\u201d
\n–> This leaves 24,450 households to default
\n–May 2015:<\/strong> Another round of shutoffs announced for \u201c28,000 commercial and residential customers\u201d; 10-point plan adjusted \u201cto pay up to 50 percent of a customer\u2019s bill\u201d (increased from original 25%)
\n–July 2015:<\/strong> Additional 12.8% rate increase begins<\/p>\n