The city of Detroit is resuming water shutoffs after a three-year moratorium and will first target customers who owe more than $5,000 and live in middle- to high-income neighborhoods.
Beginning next week, the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department (DWSD) will begin shutting off water to as many as 750 households that have not responded to the city’s attempts to enroll them in a payment assistance plan.
During the initial phase of shutoffs, DWSD is focusing on residents who live in U.S. Census tracts where the average household income is medium to high. Lower-income residents who live in those areas will still be targeted, DWSD Director Gary Brown said.
Water activists oppose resuming shutoffs because many residents, even those living in middle-income neighborhoods, are struggling to make ends meet.
“They’re not even giving a 30-day notice,” says Meeko Williams, founder and executive director of Hydrate Detroit, a not-for-profit group that helps restore water service for residents whose service has been shut off for nonpayment. “We don’t know who’s facing shutoffs, and DWSD won’t release the names.”
Williams says he suspects lower-income residents could be next, and this initial action is a form of intimidation.
“This is just an excuse to ramp up the fear and intimidation of water shutoffs,” Williams tells Metro Times. “You still have people who are suffering from the economic distress of COVID. This will become a public health issue.”
During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the state forced cities to temporarily restore water service and stop shutoffs for nonpayment. The city later extended the moratorium while it drew up a plan to prevent shutoffs for low-income residents. In the summer of 2022, DWSD announced an affordability plan that allows low-income residents to pay no more than $18 a month for water.
Since the moratorium began, customers have racked up $60 million in overdue bills, which is money the department needs to operate its massive system, according to DWSD.
Of the roughly 220,000 residential customers, about 60,000 are delinquent on their water bills. Brown estimates that about a third of those customers are unable to pay.
Over the last decade, the city has drawn international criticism for shutting off water to nearly 150,000 homes for delinquent payments. The United Nations declared the shutoffs a violation of human rights.
In 2021, state Rep. Abraham Aiyash introduced a bill to permanently ban water shutoffs for seniors, families with minor children, and people with disabilities or life-threatening medical conditions. The Legislature was controlled by Republicans at the time, and the bill languished.
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