No Money, No Water!

FAILING ECONOMIC, POLITICAL & SOCIAL  SYSTEMS
MUNICIPAL BANKRUPTCY
UNEMPLOYMENT
POVERTY
CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE
COLLAPSE
SCENARIOS 244, 109, 049, 047, 031, 028, 02
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Detroit Denying Water and Sewerage to ½ Million Citizens

Officials at the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) have cut off service to 7,556 customers in April and May and are now speeding up the service denial to as many as 3,000 delinquent accounts per week.

“That the water department’s shutoff policy is uncompromising, making no exceptions for households with infant children, elderly or disabled residents, said a report.

Detroit!

About 40% of Detroiters live in poverty. Some 83% of population are black, and the reported unemployment rate is edging close to 15%.

“Assisting low-income residents with paying their water bills would help avert a public health crisis,” U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit), said in a letter to Obama Thursday, while asking Health and Human Services Secretary to declare a public health emergency, calling the shutoff campaign “draconian.” Said the report.

“Regardless of the rationale for these cutoffs, the human consequences are unacceptable and unsustainable,” said Conyers on Friday.

“Last week, the Detroit City Council approved an 8.7% increase in the water rate, contributing to a total increase of 119% over the last decade,” Conyers said.

“As roughly half the city is now eligible for shutoffs, we believe that immediate action is necessary to stem the consequences of this counterproductive and coldhearted policy,” he said.

“It is utterly unacceptable to put the most vulnerable members of our population through severe hardship, utilizing a method that clearly violates their basic human rights, as a collection practice.”

United Nations

Detroit: Disconnecting water from people who cannot pay – an affront to human rights, say UN experts

“Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights.”

Related Links

• Purpose of Business to Enrich Lives? August 3, 2013
• Detroit’s long-term liabilities exceed $14 billion February 21, 2013
• Lawmakers consider dissolving Detroit as bankruptcy looms December 1, 2012

• Dissolving Detroit! December 1, 2012
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun