PHOTO/VALERIE JEAN
Editor’s note: The Water Affordability Plan, charging residents only what they can afford to pay to avoid shut offs, was approved by the Detroit City Council and the Detroit Water Department in 2006. It has not been implemented. As a result, the city has seen tens of thousands of residents have their water shut off for inability to pay the skyrocketing price. Families face serious health issues without running water. Children in homes without water can be taken away by family services. Underlying the refusal of the City to implement The Water Affordability Plan is the corporate drive to privatize the region’s water. Water is the new gold. The corporations want to own it. Water must remain public! No one has the right to own our water and no one has the right to deny anyone from having it.
Below is an abbreviated version of the Water Affordability Plan.
1. The DWSD (Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept.) agrees to implement the Plan for water users in the following categories:
a. Water customers with incomes at or below the Federal Poverty level are eligible to be enrolled;
b. Water customers with incomes up to 2% greater than the Federal Poverty level will be enrolled into the W.A.V.E. (Water Assistance Volunteer Enrollment) Program, operated by DWSD.
2. Low-income customers will be charged a monthly rate that equals 4.5% of their gross annual income. (Example: a person receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) of $773/month earns $9276/annually. 4.5% of that amount is $417.42, divided by 12, equals a monthly payment of $34.75 toward a water bill.
3. In addition to this formula, contributions from un-billed residential water customers (apartment dwellers, public housing residents, etc.) and others will be solicited using the following formula:
a. An annual request for $2/per month, or $24/per year will be requested from apartment/public housing dwellers who are not DWSD customers;
b. Along with their standard charges, an additional donation of $4/per month, or $48/per year will be requested from municipal, educational, and religious locations that are DWSD customers;
c. Along with their standard monthly charges, an additional donation of $10/per month, or $120/per year will be requested from industrial and business sites that are DWSD customers.
4. There are 238,000 registered as low-income DWSD customers in Detroit, who can make monthly payments of $35 toward a water bill, equaling $8.3 million per month. This amount along with the other solicited funds and a monthly check-off amount requested from those with higher incomes of 50 cents per month, will help to right-size the DWSD while providing an income stream in perpetuity. A six-month pilot plan is recommended.
5. The Water Affordability Plan includes all income levels, and doesn’t ask for a rate structure change. Those with limited and/or fixed incomes can participate.
6. Enrolled water customers in compliance are protected from shutoff.
7. Eligible customers with past arrearages will be directed to Social Services to apply for emergency help.
8. Water conservation specialists will prepare “how-to” brochures that demonstrate water saving practices.
9. The Plan eliminates mass water shutoffs levied against low-income customers throughout the DWSD system.
10. The Water Affordability Plan requires an annual accounting published in detail, listing what revenues were collected, what expenditures were made, and what percentage of customers defaulted.
(To receive an on-line copy of the full water affordability plan, email a request to: www.mwro.org)
