Nearly 50 picketed in Detroit outside of and blocked the gates of a company contracted by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to shut off water to delinquent customers beginning at 6:30 a.m. . The department had to make arrangements for its own employees to cut off service for commercial customers, Latimer said, adding that the recipients of the 46,000 shut-off notices sent out in May included commercial properties. But DWSD has also been accused of ignoring the debts of large entities — like a golf course that owes $437,000 and the state of Michigan itself, which owes $70,000 — while going after people who owe as little as $150 on their accounts. Activists protesting the water department shut-offs have claimed the operators of Joe Louis are let off the hook despite outstanding water bills. But nearly 50 percent of DWSD’s accounts are behind on payments, according to the department, and Detroit’s already-high water prices are on the rise, now averaging $75 a household — almost double the national average. The activists say that in a city with a poverty rate of 44 percent, and where water bills are higher than in much of the country, Detroit should work out a solution with poor residents instead of leaving them dry. This is direct action, and it’s only the beginning,” said Elena Herrada, a Detroit school board member and candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives who was arrested during the protest on Thursday. The issue of Detroit customers, many of whom live below the poverty line, losing access to water has been call a civil rights issue and garnered national attention. As Detroit’s water provider continues to carry out its plan to turn off the taps for tens of thousands of nonpaying customers across the city, activists are resorting to civil disobedience in an attempt to stop what they call a human rights violation. The pressure seems to be partially working: DWSD announced a $1 million fund on Tuesday for residents struggling to pay.
– At least eight people were arrested yesterday in Detroit for protesting water shutoffs in a city where almost 40% of residents live below the poverty line. Dozens picketed in front of a facility affiliated with the city's Water and Sewerage Department to try to stop what activists call a “human rights violation,” reports Al Jazeera America. Police tell MLive that the individuals charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct range in age from 58 to 70 and include members of the clergy. (Watch video of the protest and arrests here.) The Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, one of the arrested protesters, tells the Detroit Free Press that police tried to "move us forcibly, and we sat down. … We [were] here to appeal to the workers to stop shutting off the water." The coordinator of a local activist group says "police officers should be arresting rapists and murderers instead of arresting peaceful people." A Detroit Police rep counters that protesters still have to follow rules: "You cannot impede pedestrian or vehicle traffic." The Free Press counts 7,210 shutoffs in June, up from 7,556 in April and May combined, as part of what Al Jazeera reports is an effort to recover $175 million in unpaid bills. As of March, nearly half of the city's 323,900 DWSD accounts were delinquent; activists have asked the UN to intervene.