The Fight for Equitable Access to Water and Electricity Has Never Been More Urgent

In few U.S. cities is the burden of high utility bills more apparent than in Detroit, which conducted the largest residential water shutoff in the country’s history in 2014. Since then, some 140,000 local residents have faced water shutoffs due to skyrocketing water rates, a 35 percent poverty rate, and what the ACLU dubbed “sloppy billing practices” by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Though COVID-19 has brought this crisis to a head, NRDC has been working with the local People’s Water Board coalition since 2017 to champion solutions such as income-based water rates, more sustainable payment plans, or a redistribution of infrastructure costs to the wealthier Detroit suburbs.

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