Detroit Shuts Off Water Again

[Deleted]

The City of Detroit began shutting off water access to residents behind on payments Tuesday, with thousands at risk of losing access.

According to the Detroit Free Press, 64,769 delinquent residential customers owe the city’s water department a combined $48.9 million.

fusion.net/story/141170/detroit-is-starting-to-shut-off-peoples-water-again/

I can't imagine summer with no running water. Yuk.

[Deleted]

I can't imagine scaling water payments based on income. 

Did the non payers already wipe out all assistance programs? $48.9M seems like a huge amount for the water company to allow going into arrears.

Are the non payers people without jobs, or they just got in the habit of not having to pay & not getting shut off?

[Deleted]

"Are the non payers people without jobs, or they just got in the habit of not having to pay & not getting shut off?"

Probably both

[zibazinski]

Pay your bill=get your water.

[Miss Tequila]

Jun 1, 2015 11:06:47 GMT -5 @xmascookie said:

The City of Detroit began shutting off water access to residents behind on payments Tuesday, with thousands at risk of losing access.

According to the Detroit Free Press, 64,769 delinquent residential customers owe the city’s water department a combined $48.9 million.

fusion.net/story/141170/detroit-is-starting-to-shut-off-peoples-water-again/

I can't imagine summer with no running water. Yuk.

I can't imagine not paying my bills and being surprised that they shut my water off

[zibazinski]

That's because you don't have "the world owes me a living" mentality.

[mmhmm]

Jun 1, 2015 11:18:42 GMT -5 @rockit said:

I can't imagine scaling water payments based on income. 

Did the non payers already wipe out all assistance programs? $48.9M seems like a huge amount for the water company to allow going into arrears.

Are the non payers people without jobs, or they just got in the habit of not having to pay & not getting shut off?

I feel pretty comfortable with the postulation that we're dealing with some of each. I'm sure there are those who could pay but choose not to, just as I'm sure there are those who simply cannot pay. I also don't know what sort of assistance programs are available in Detroit - that city is in lousy financial shape all the way around, I'm afraid.

I've never been in a position to be unable to pay my utility bills and having one, or all of those utilities shut off. I can't imagine what that would be like.

[Opti]

I'm sure there are many stories behind the scenes of what's going on. A couple of interesting links.

Nicole Hill, who was featured in a June Los Angeles Times story about the shut-offs, is among those who can't pay. She spoke to the deputy director of the water department asking why her bill was $6,000 when she had not been living in her apartment very long.

www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-detroit-water-shut-offs-20140826-story.html

The Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) last year shut off water service to residents with unpaid bills in an effort to collect more than $119 million in delinquent payments from more than 150,000 customers. Like in Baltimore, Detroit’s commercial customers represent more than half of the unpaid water dues.

(Baltimore)

Less than half of the $40 million in delinquent water bills are from residents. Unpaid bills from 369 businesses account for more than $15 million and government offices and nonprofits account for another $10 million of the unpaid water bills, according to an investigation by the Baltimore Sun.

rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/05/21/baltimore-detroit-criminalizing-low-income-people-shutting-water/