Detroit Water and Sewerage Department

Last updated
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
Headquarters Detroit, Michigan
Services Water treatment and provision, sewerage
Website detroitmi.gov/dwsd
RemarksServices Metro Detroit and surrounding counties and communities

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is a public utility that provides water and sewerage services for Detroit, Michigan and owns the assets that provide water and sewerage services to 126 other communities in seven counties. [1] It is one of the largest water and sewer systems in the United States. In 2000, the utility utilized five water treatment plants using water from the Detroit River and Lake Huron. In mid 2014, the DWSD had acquired significant debt and delinquent accounts, and talks of privatization were occurring. As of January 1, 2016, under the terms of the City of Detroit's municipal bankruptcy the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) was created with a $50 million annual lease agreement to the City of Detroit for 40 years, while the DWSD bifurcated to focus its services specifically on the water and sewer customers within only the city of Detroit. [2]

Contents

Overview

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is a sprawling network covering 1,079 square-miles, [1] [3] servicing more than 40 percent of the U.S. state of Michigan's population, [1] and employing nearly 2,000 people. [4] The DWSD is one of the most extensive and largest water and sewage systems in the United States. [1] Along with serving the entire city of Detroit, it also serves the counties of Genesee, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Wayne, St. Clair, Lapeer and Monroe. [1] In 2000, the network comprised 11,000 miles of water mains and a storage capacity of 363 million gallons. [5]

In 2000, the DWSD provided water for around four million customers in Detroit and its metropolitan area. [5] At this time, the department utilized five water treatment plants that were fed from three raw water intakes, two of which were sourced from the Detroit River and one of which was sourced from Lake Huron. [5] The water treatment plants used the technologies of "pre-chlorination, rapid mix, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and chlorine disinfection". [5] At this time, the five water treatment plants were Waterworks Park, Springwells, Northeast, Southwest and Lake Huron. [5]

In a 1992 survey, "nine of the 119 water purveyors that receive DWSD water indicated that considerable amounts of unlined cast-iron pipe were in place", and that "two-thirds of the eighteen survey respondents also indicated that red/rusty water occurrences were the most common cause of customer complaints". [5] This was associated with the occurrence of iron uptake in the pipes. [5]

Contemporary issues

As of March 9, 2020, the City of Detroit has instituted a COVID-19 Water Restart Plan to keep water flowing during the pandemic. [6] Residents are eligible for this plan if their water service was recently paused because they missed a payment or if they received a notice that their service may be interrupted. [6] This plan is in effect until December 31, 2020, and it costs $25 per month. [6] Normally, residents pay almost four times that amount. The Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) reports that in the first 90 days of the Water Restart Plan, service was restored to twelve hundred occupied homes. [7] Even in non-covid times, many residents in Detroit struggle to pay their water bills which leads to shutoffs.

Detroit has been in a water crisis since 2014, the time that the city was in bankruptcy, when the DWSD shut off water of residents who had missed payments. [8] In 2014, half of customers were behind on payments and the average amount of money customers who were behind on payments owed was $560. [9] The numbers have only increased. One resident, Lisa Brooks, was in a payment plan with the DWSD that required her to pay $100 which amounted to 17% of her monthly income. [10] Lisa missed some payments and turned to We The People of Detroit, an organization advocating for water justice, and relatives for assistance. [7] Lisa is not alone in her reliance of others for water. 80% of Detroit residents who do not have access to water in their homes share or borrow water from friends and family which potentially creates a transmission path for the coronavirus. [8] The safety of residents during the time of the pandemic was a major factor in the government's decision to enact the Water Restart Plan.

Separate from the COVID-19 Water Restart Plan, water activists have been fighting for a sliding-scale affordability program for water in Detroit for many years. [8] Activists believe that this type of solution addresses the root of the problem which is that water rates are unaffordable for low-income households. [8] However, city officials oppose sliding-scale programs and instead continue to focus on individual assistance programs like the Water Residential Assistance Program. [8] It is unclear what will happen to residents when the Water Restart Plan ends at the end of this year though it is clear that the push for a more affordable, sustainable urban water system in Detroit will continue.

As of 24 June 2014, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has taken on significant debt and delinquent accounts, and has been under discussion for potential privatization. [11] [12] [13] Efforts to collect on overdue billing has been characterized as an effort "to get rid of the bad debt associated with the water department and prep the public entity for privatization". [11]

Per a June 2014 Democracy Now article: [13]

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department says half of its 323,000 accounts are delinquent and has begun turning off the taps of those who do not pay bills that total above $150 or that are 60 days late. Since March, up to 3,000 account holders have had their water cut off every week. The Detroit water authority carries an estimated $5 billion in debt and has been the subject of privatization talks.

Efforts to shut off water to delinquent corporate accounts have been tepid at best. "Vargo Golf, which operates Palmer Park Golf Course and Chandler Park Golf Course, under contract with the city of Detroit tops the list, with a delinquent account balance of $437,714. Another Vargo Golf account for a separate property has a delinquent balance of $100,528." [14] On his Daily Show, Jon Stewart called out Ford Field and Joe Louis Arena on their delinquent DWSD accounts. [15]

In June 2014, activists from the Blue Planet Project had filed a "submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation ... activists say Detroit is trying to push through a private takeover of its water system at the expense of basic rights." [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan</span> U.S. state

Michigan is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. In the upper peninsula it has land borders with Wisconsin to the northwest, and in the lower peninsula with Indiana and Ohio to the south; it is also connected by Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie to the states of Minnesota and Illinois, and the Canadian province of Ontario. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of 96,716 sq mi (250,490 km2), Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. Its name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ, meaning "large water" or "large lake".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Huron, Michigan</span> City in Michigan, United States

Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Financial services</span> Economic service provided by the finance industry

Financial services are economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of service sector activities, especially as concerns financial management and consumer finance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accounts receivable</span> Claims for payment held by a business

Accounts receivable, abbreviated as AR or A/R, are legally enforceable claims for payment held by a business for goods supplied or services rendered that customers have ordered but not paid for. The accounts receivable process involves customer onboarding, invoicing, collections, deductions, exception management, and finally, cash posting after the payment is collected. These are generally in the form of invoices raised by a business and delivered to the customer for payment within an agreed time frame. Accounts receivable is shown in a balance sheet as an asset. It is one of a series of accounting transactions dealing with the billing of a customer for goods and services that the customer has ordered. These may be distinguished from notes receivable, which are debts created through formal legal instruments called promissory notes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ireland Water</span> State company operating water services in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Water Limited is the main water company in Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Detroit</span> Municipal government in Michigan, US

The government of Detroit, Michigan is run by a mayor, the nine-member Detroit City Council, the eleven-member Board of Police Commissioners, and a clerk. All of these officers are elected on a nonpartisan ballot, with the exception of four of the police commissioners, who are appointed by the mayor. Detroit has a "strong mayoral" system, with the mayor approving departmental appointments. The council approves budgets, but the mayor is not obligated to adhere to any earmarking. The city clerk supervises elections and is formally charged with the maintenance of municipal records. City ordinances and substantially large contracts must be approved by the council.

Private sector participation in water supply and sanitation in Colombia has been more stable and successful than in some other Latin American countries such as Argentina or Bolivia. According to the World Bank, between 1996 and 2007, more than 40 water and sanitation service provision contracts have been awarded to private or mixed companies in Colombia, serving a combined population of 7.3 million or more than 20% of the urban population. According to the Colombian water regulator, there were even more public-private partnerships for water and sanitation in Colombia in 2004: 125 private and 48 mixed public-private water companies, including large, medium and small companies. Most of the contracts were awarded in poor municipalities with highly deteriorated infrastructure. They relied mainly on public funding, complemented by limited private funding. The design was based on the central government providing grants in the start-up years to rehabilitate deteriorated systems and to expand access, while the contracting municipal governments also made budgetary transfers on an annual basis to complement revenues. Colombia thus departed from the standard concession approach, which requires private concessionaires to finance investments with their own resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Credit card</span> Card for financial transactions from a line of credit

A credit card is a payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services or withdraw cash on credit. Using the card thus accrues debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Uganda</span>

The Ugandan water supply and sanitation sector made substantial progress in urban areas from the mid-1990s until at least 2006, with substantial increases in coverage as well as in operational and commercial performance. Sector reforms from 1998 to 2003 included the commercialization and modernization of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) operating in cities and larger towns, as well as decentralization and private sector participation in small towns.

The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) is a water supply and sanitation company in Uganda. It is wholly owned by the government of Uganda.

Patton Park is a 93-acre (38 ha) park located on the southwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The park, named for the World War II US military leader General George S. Patton, was dedicated in the early 1950s. Local landowner Jacques Baby bequeathed the 93-acre (38 ha) tract of land to the City of Detroit for a park. The park retains a restrictive covenant that prohibits the City from tampering with the park, lest the park returns to Baby's descendants.

Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) is a municipal corporation responsible for distributing water services in the Mid-Michigan and Thumb areas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Members of the authority are the cities of Flint and Lapeer, and the counties of Genesee, Lapeer and Sanilac. Karegnondi is a word from the Petan Indian language meaning "lake" and another early name for Lake Huron.

In the latter half of the 19th century, private water systems began to be a part of municipal services. As of 2011, over three quarters of US local governments surveyed by the ICMA provide water distribution entirely with public employees. Over two thirds of municipalities provide water treatment publicly, and over half provide sewage collection and treatment publicly. These rates have remained relatively stable over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maynilad Water Services</span>

Maynilad Water Services, Inc., better known as Maynilad, is the water and wastewater services provider of cities and municipalities that form the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area in the Philippines. It is an agent and contractor of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). Maynilad is one of two private water providers in Metro Manila, the other being Manila Water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina Sullivan Acts</span>

In North Carolina, United States, the Sullivan Acts are a set of statutes passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in response to the bankrupting of all sewer and water districts in the City of Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina. As provided in the statute, only the City of Asheville, in the provision of water, may not charge a higher rate for consumers outside city limits. Since the enactment of the legislation, several significant changes have come to Asheville: economic prosperity, adoption and termination of a City-County water agreement, and repeated efforts at overturning the legislation. While there are three Acts, the final two are modifications of the water agreement between the City of Asheville and Buncombe County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Lakes Water Authority</span>

The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) is a regional water authority in the U.S. state of Michigan. It provides drinking water treatment, drinking water distribution, wastewater collection, and wastewater treatment services for the Southeast Michigan communities, including Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, among others. GLWA overlays a majority of the water and sewer assets which were formerly operated and maintained by the Detroit Water Sewer District (DWSD) prior to the bankruptcy of the City of Detroit, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Wedes</span> American entrepreneur and activist

Justin Wedes is an entrepreneur, community organizer and social justice activist. He is a former member of the Occupy Wall Street movement, founding member of the Detroit Water Brigade and CEO of The Liberati Group, a strategic communications firm, and Flow Video a production company specializing in Education and Non Profits.

Kohan Retail Investment Group is a shopping mall investment company based in Great Neck, New York. They specialize in malls and retail spaces as well as hotels.

The 2019 California power shutoffs, known as public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events, were massive preemptive power shutoffs that occurred in approximately 30 counties in Northern California and several areas in Southern California from October 9 to November 1, 2019, and on November 20, 2019, by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). The power shutoffs were an attempt to prevent wildfires from being started by electrical equipment during strong and dry winds. The shutoffs initially affected around 800,000 customer accounts, or about 2.5 million people, but expanded to cause over 3 million people to lose utility-provided electrical power by late October as more utility companies from around the state also did preemptive power shutoffs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kincade Fire</span> 2019 wildfire in Sonoma County, California

The Kincade Fire was a wildfire that burned in Sonoma County, California in the United States. The fire started northeast of Geyserville in The Geysers on 9:24 p.m. on October 23, 2019, and subsequently burned 77,758 acres (31,468 ha) until the fire was fully contained on November 6, 2019. The fire threatened over 90,000 structures and caused widespread evacuations throughout Sonoma County, including the communities of Geyserville, Healdsburg, Windsor, and Santa Rosa. The majority of Sonoma County and parts of Lake County were under evacuation warnings and orders. Lake county only had one evacuation order and that was the town of Middletown. The fire was the largest of the 2019 California wildfire season, and also the largest wildfire recorded in Sonoma County at the time before being surpassed by the LNU Lightning Complex fires in 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 McCulloch, John P. (C.P.A., J.D.1) (Winter 2013). "Detroit Water and Sewerage Department: Bringing Credibility to a Beleaguered System through Regional Cooperation and Technology" (PDF). Journal of Law and Society (193): 193–206.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ "Great Lakes Water Authority takes over regional operations". www.theoaklandpress.com. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  3. ↑ Haimerl Amy (July 29, 2014). "Mayor Mike Duggan takes over Detroit water department". Crain's Detroit Business. Retrieved February 15, 2015.(subscription required)
  4. ↑ The History of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Official website Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kirmeyer, Gregory J. (2000). Distribution System Water Quality Changes Following Corrosion Control Strategies. American Water Works Association. pp. 117–133. ISBN   978-1-58321-002-4 . Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 (PDF) https://detroitmi.gov/sites/detroitmi.localhost/files/2020-03/Water%20Restart%20Plan%20COVID-19%20Flier.pdf.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. 1 2 "Can an income-based water affordability plan solve Detroit's water shutoff problem?". Planet Detroit. 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Ignaczak, Nina Misuraca (9 March 2020). "Detroit Water Shutoffs and a Crisis of Public Health". Belt Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  9. ↑ "Tapped Out Detroit Residents in Water Fight With City". NBC News. 6 July 2014. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  10. ↑ Shelly, J. Stephen; Gamon, John (1996). Howellia aquatilis (water howellia) recovery plan /. Helena, Montana: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.154807.
  11. 1 2 Green, Emma (July 17, 2014). "What Happens When Detroit Shuts Off the Water of 100,000 People". The Atlantic . Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Detroit Plans Thousands Of Water Shutoffs Over Delinquent Bills". CBS Detroit. March 21, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 "Water is a Human Right: Detroit Residents Seek U.N. Intervention as City Shuts Off Taps to Thousands". Democracy Now!. 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
  14. ↑ Guillen, Joe (July 14, 2014). "Detroit water department now sending shut-off crews to commercial customers". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  15. ↑ Lacy, Eric (November 17, 2014). "'Daily Show with Jon Stewart' calls out Joe Louis Arena, Ford Field in Detroit water shutoffs story". MLive.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.