Tackling Michigan’s Water Crisis

People in Detroit advocating against water shutoffs in 2014. Credit: We the People of Detroit

On the heels of Detroit, Michigan’s famous Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2013, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department shut off water to more than 120,000 residents over the course of three years, marking what is now considered the largest residential water shut off in United States history.

The utility cited $89 million in unpaid bills as their reason for the shut offs, but Kristy Meyer, campaign director at Water Equals Life (WEL) Coalition, says this decision put residents who were already struggling at risk for illness, psychological and social harm, and further economic suffering.

“People don't fully understand how a lack of access to water in your tap can impact individual lives and everybody else's lives, too,” says Meyer. “Nationally, as a result of water insecurity, there are 219,000 cases of waterborne illnesses and 71,000 cases of mental illness that cost our economy 68.7 million work hours and an estimated 610 lives [each year].”

To help address the impacts of water insecurity, the WEL Coalition was created by three founding organizations—We the People of Detroit, Freshwater Future, and the National Wildlife Federation—to advocate for water justice and affordability in Michigan and beyond.

Today, the WEL Coalition is comprised of 26 local, state, regional, and national partner organizations working together to advocate for policies that address water affordability for all Michigan residents. WEL members also address public health concerns, infrastructure needs, climate change, and other compounding issues that contribute to the water crisis. These people-centric elements of Great Lakes restoration work are often underprioritized but make up a vital aspect of well-being for communities throughout the region.

“This is not just an individual crisis, this is all of our crisis,” says Meyer. “We need to be able to solve this problem collectively together. Everyone should have clean, safe water. No exceptions.”

A room full of bottled water that was handed out to Detroit residents at the beginning of the COVID crisis. Credit: We the People of Detroit

Since 1977, federal investment in water has declined from 63% of capital spending to just 9% in 2017. With less federal support, the burden of water infrastructure upgrades has increasingly been placed on local ratepayers in the form of skyrocketing utility bills.

Tiana Starks, chair of the communications committee for the WEL Coalition and director of communications at We the People of Detroit, explains that water costs in Michigan have risen to consume as much as 25% of residents’ disposable household income in some areas, including Detroit.

“Water insecurity is not just something that impacts people in Detroit and in urban areas. People all across the state of Michigan are being impacted by the increase in water costs,” she says. “The cost of water has gone up over 188% over the last 10 years in Michigan, and in some places that can be as much as 320%.”

During the first wave of mass water shut offs in Detroit in 2014, several founding members of the WEL Coalition were active in grassroots efforts to distribute bottled water to residents. There, they witnessed the effect of these rising costs firsthand.

“When they were distributing water, they would go through the neighborhoods and see water hoses connecting from one family's home to another to try and help,” says Starks. “It was like a system.”

When bottled water was accessible, families often rationed the supplies. First, Starks explains, a family might use some of the water to brush their teeth in the morning. Remaining water would then be used to cook a meal before that same water was recycled to wash dishes. Finally, the dirty dishwater would be used to flush the toilet, ridding the home of waste that had accumulated throughout the day.

The inability to maintain personal or household hygiene practices has a tangible impact on long-term public health. Studies conducted by We the People of Detroit’s Community Research Collective found that the probability of contracting communicable diseases increases dramatically in communities impacted by water shut offs.

“We learned that if you live on a block where one house is shut off from water, you are 1.5 times more likely to get a waterborne illness,” says Starks.

Lack of access to water also increases the likelihood that children will not attend school and that adults will be unable to maintain work, further exacerbating their inability to afford the rising cost of water. According to Michigan law, families may face losing their children if the home is without water for three days. If bills are unpaid long enough, collection agencies may even place liens on resident’s homes.

“It’s really quite devastating what people have to go through,” says Starks. “There is a direct impact on mothers and families when people don't have water in the state of Michigan.”

To combat these impacts, the WEL Coalition hopes to create a statewide water affordability program through the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services. The plan will have four primary goals: to implement a tiered water rate based on household income and the federal poverty line, to lower the cost of water bills, to limit water shut offs, and to provide a path to debt forgiveness.

To pave the road, Meyer says the coalition is working to educate public health officials, legislators, activists, and other interested parties on the difference between water affordability and water assistance. She defines assistance as short-term funding that helps people get back on their feet, whereas affordability is “about permanently lowering water rates.”

Over the course of the last decade, several city-based programs have been introduced across the Great Lakes states to combat rising water rates. The City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, launched its Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) in 2017. In response to local water shut offs, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department followed suit with its income-based Lifeline Plan in 2022. By evaluating the success of these existing programs, the WEL Coalition can learn more about what works well and what can be improved upon for a statewide affordability plan.

With climate change, increased pollutants like PFAS, and Michigan’s approximately $19 billion need for water infrastructure upgrades, Meyer acknowledges that utility companies are facing greater challenges than ever to provide residents with affordable clean water.

“If there is a true water affordability program, utilities win, as well,” she says. “That's because there is a large amount of people that can't pay their water bill right now, so water utilities aren't getting that money, no matter what.”

She looks to TAP as an example of how water affordability programs can benefit all parties.

“In Philadelphia, people in the TAP program are able to pay their bills,” she says. “The Philadelphia Water Department netted nearly $5 million from people they hadn't in the past because they had a water affordability program in place.”

In the meantime, the WEL Coalition plans to continue its outreach efforts and promote its Water Affordability Pledge, which contains nine tenets in support of clean, affordable water. Meyer says both individuals and entities are welcome to sign.

“If you get to the very core of it, we're made up of 60% water,” she adds. “Water is the very foundation of all of our lives.”

Visit welcoalition.org.