Detroit's notorious water shutoffs are being
suspended for 15 days:
“In case we have missed someone who has legitimate affordability problems this will allow them to come to us to see if they can work out payments,” department spokesman Bill Johnson said. “We’ve always maintained that what we were doing was a collection effort — not a shutoff effort.”
The department’s decision comes on the same day that a group of Detroit residents filed a lawsuit in the city’s bankruptcy case asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes to restore water service to residential customers.
On Friday, hundreds of Netroots Nation attendees joined local activists, as well as actor Mark Ruffalo, to
rally and march against the water shutoffs.
Ashley Thomas, who lives on the Detroit's west side, said she knows several people in her neighborhood who have recently had their water cut off. Even if residents are too poor to clear up their accounts, they still deserve to have water, Thomas said.
"I'm in a neighborhood where the majority of us live in poverty," Thomas said. "Some of our people have newborn babies they need to take care of. They need water to survive."
So do we all need water to survive. Hopefully the Detroit water and sewage department will realize how widespread affordability issues really are in their city.
10:14 AM PT: A suspension is good, but this fight isn't over—sign the petition calling for an end to the water shutoffs.