By Courtney Cox
Catarina de Albuquerque, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the
human right to safe drinking water, visited the U.S. this week to examine what
appears to be a water emergency in Detroit, one of our nation’s most fiscally distressed
cities. Al
Jazeera reports that water disconnections have occurred at an
alarming level this year as the city attempts to handle “the largest municipal
bankruptcy in federal history.” The cost of water in Detroit is much higher
than the national average making it difficult for mid and low income residents
to pay their bills. While residents’ water supply is hastily disconnected,
businesses (industrial and commercial users) face no service interruptions,
even with their collective $30 million in unpaid water bills.
Albuquerque highlighted the indignity that residents face as
a result of their disconnected water in a city that was once an industrial
capital. Humiliating blue marks are sketched on the sidewalk in front of homes
with disconnected service. Records reflect that African Americans (who represent
80% of the population) are particularly affected by these disconnections.
Albuquerque asserted that the water shutoffs not only violate residents’ human
right to water under international law, but could also constitute
discrimination under international law. The mass water disconnections also
raise public health issues,, because these conditions breed communicable
diseases.
Albuquerque
recommended that the city restore disconnected water and adopt a mandatory affordability threshold.
Additionally, she charged the federal government to investigate the
disconnection to determine whether they have a disproportionate impact on
African Americans and other groups protected against discrimination.
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