In the face of hardship, poverty, and economic turmoil, cities are forced to come up with new ways to cope with difficult problems. However, in no way were Detroit residents prepared for the city’s harsh measures taken to resolve its problematic water debt in 2014. When the Detroit Water and Sewage Department accumulated more than $90 million in bad debt, they ordered shutoffs for customers who owed at least $150 or had fallen at least two months behind on their bills. These drastic measures, which were done with little warning, caused a controversy that sparked city-wide protests, numerous arrests, and international publicity. On one hand, the city argued that desperate times called for desperate measures. Detroit could no longer uphold the millions of dollars in debt it had accumulated from unpaid water bills. Residents needed to be held accountable for their actions. On the other hand, access to water is a universal human right. Taking away this right was not only unethical, but inhumane.
However, one point that both critics for and against the Detroit water crisis of 2014 agree on is that the shutoffs have drastically impacted the lives of Detroit’s residents. Since the water crisis two years ago, The Detroit News has covered the widespread and still prevalent effect of the shutoffs, detailing that in 2015 Detroit shut water service to 23,300 homes but left the water running in thousands of businesses that owe millions of dollars. The article claims that on average, 1 in 9 of the city’s 200,000 residential accounts were disconnected, whereas only 1 in 37 of the city’s 25,000 non-residential accounts were disconnected. Neighborhood activists claim that household residents were unfairly targeted during the water shutoffs, when some of the biggest water debts were on government-owned properties such as Belle Isle and the Detroit Housing Commission. State chairwoman of Michigan Welfare Rights Maureen Taylor stated, “[Businesses] don’t get threats. They don’t get shut-off notices. They get to dispute their bills. When [residents] try to dispute a bill, they still get shut off.” Although it is easy to overlook the shutoff decision as solely biased to benefit businesses, their disputes are not without reason. Due to the years of mismanagement and poor record keeping by the Detroit Water and Sewage Department, many businesses disputed the legitimacy of the charges. In fact, Belle Isle argued that the city of Detroit actually “owed a credit of $190,000 because [the island] overpaid.”
In the extreme complexity of the Detroit water crisis, I believe there is no use in continuing to put blame on either the household residents or the local businesses. In both cases, prohibiting access to water, a natural human necessity, should never be the solution. Therefore, there needs to be more discussion on how to improve the city’s ability to keep an accurate record of water usage as well as to communicate more openly and clearly with its citizens. Luckily, some of Detroit’s very own residents are already taking on the fight. Mabel and I are fortunate enough to work closely with a Wayne State graduate, Abess Makki, through TechTown’s incubation program. Abess’s first product, CityWater, is a web mobile application that allows water systems operators to effectively communicate with their customers, expedite dispute resolutions, and allow residents to track their water usage in real time, directly creating the transparency needed to rebuild a trusting relationship between Detroit and its residents.
It is through entrepreneurs like Abess that instill in me hope that no matter the severity of a social, political, or economic problem, there is always someone who is willing to work towards solving it. And it is this same mentality to “do good” that causes me so much pride when I reflect on my work with TechTown’s tight-knit community of social entrepreneurs.
Article source: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/03/31/detroit-water-shutoffs/82497496/
Article source: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/03/31/detroit-water-shutoffs/82497496/