[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 115 (Tuesday, July 22, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 22, 2014

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, water is a human right. I applaud the 
recent decision to suspend Detroit's water shutoffs for 15 days to 
enable residents to demonstrate financial hardship. This is a first 
step in preventing a regional public health crisis and protecting the 
basic rights of Detroit residents.
  I submit the following editorial from the Detroit Free Press, which 
makes the case that recent water-shutoffs, which have been implemented 
with little or no warning to households, are wrong-headed and 
shortsighted.

              [From the Detroit Free Press, July 21, 2014]

             Ending Detroit's Water Shut Offs a Good Start

        On Monday morning, the Detroit Water and Sewerage 
     Department announced that it's calling a 15-day halt to an 
     aggressive shutoff campaign that has left an unknown number 
     of Detroiters without water.
       It's a start.
       The department has about 137,000 delinquent residential 
     accounts totaling about $75 million, and about 10,000 
     delinquent commercial accounts worth about $23 million.
       Folks who can pay should pay what they owe. But department 
     officials have to accept that some Detroiters just can't 
     pay--and further, that the department itself has created an 
     expectation in customers juggling bills that it's OK to 
     prioritize other debts. If the water department's goal is to 
     get, and keep, delinquent customers current on bills, ramping 
     up shutoffs with no warning to ratepayers was a wrong-headed, 
     shortsighted way to proceed.
       After weeks of public protest, harsh words from the United 
     Nations, the federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy 
     and this newspaper's Editorial Board, the department seems to 
     get it.
       Department officials say they plan a citywide advertising 
     blitz, complete with outreach to community groups and 
     churches. That's excellent news, but outreach must be paired 
     with concerted efforts to match impoverished residents with 
     financial assistance to pay up and stay current.
       The department should also consider income-based partial 
     amnesty for ratepayers who are truly unable to catch up, or 
     comparing data with social service agencies to identify 
     customers who are in need of assistance.
       The department must also identify vacant, abandoned homes 
     and target those first. There's little excuse for cutting off 
     water to families as a cost-saving tactic when empty 
     buildings are flooding.
       We've been told, confidently, by the folks in charge that 
     no one who honestly cannot afford to pay is being deprived of 
     service; that's overconfidence at best, and outright 
     dishonesty at worst, as documented in Free Press reporter 
     Patricia Montemurri's story about conditions in the city this 
     weekend.
       Some adherents of the department's shutoff campaign have 
     dismissed fears that disconnection from clean water and 
     modern sanitation could lead to a public health crisis, 
     noting that the vast majority of delinquent account holders 
     pay up promptly and have water restored. But let's consider 
     the reality of this situation: If just 10% of the ratepayers 
     currently delinquent are unable to pay to have service 
     restored, we're talking about more than 10,000 residents. 
     It's terrible public policy.
       All of this against the backdrop of the city's bankruptcy, 
     and the department's efforts to clean up bad debt in an 
     attempt to make a regional water authority more attractive to 
     suburban county executives. (Though let's also keep in mind 
     that aides to Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson 
     wrote in a February report to the Oakland County Commission 
     that ``stoppage of water and sewer service for tens of 
     thousands of fiscally distressed members of the system is 
     unacceptable policy and one the Oakland County executive will 
     never support.'')
       Detroit is a poor city. About 38% of residents live in 
     poverty. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average. 
     It's time to talk about what our goals are, and rethink how 
     we deliver water.

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