In a press conference Friday, Michigan lawmakers and local leaders discussed bipartisan legislative efforts to support water affordability and assistance programs for Michigan households in need.
State Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) was a sponsor of Senate Bills 248 and 256, which are part of an effort to create a funding source dedicated to water affordability in place of appropriating money from the general fund each fiscal year. The legislation would give water providers more stability to plan for their infrastructure improvement needs, Chang said.
“Every human being needs water to live, yet across our state, more and more Michiganders are struggling to pay the bills,” Chang continued. She said water rates are rising in many rural, urban, and suburban communities across the state.
Jackson was one city that recently decided to increase water rates. Jackson’s mayor, Daniel Mahoney, said the city is grappling with aging water infrastructure, rising operational and treatment costs, and underinvestment in its water system. He said the decision to increase rates in the city is an effort to prevent system failures and higher long-term costs for citizens.
Mahoney said this legislation could prevent that rate increase from putting the price of water out of reach for low-income households.
Senator John Damoose (R-Charlevoix) said he became involved with the legislation after hearing stories from residents who had to alter their daily habits after their water shut off. “Access to clean water is not a partisan issue,” he said. “It's a fundamental human need.”
Sylvia Orduño, the director of the People's Water Board Coalition, said water insecurity leads to difficult choices. “Households have had to make choices on what they can cook or how many times they can flush the toilet because they've had to figure out how to ration water,” Orduño said. “Having to rely on bottled water just for basic necessities, like brushing your teeth or giving your children a bath, it's nothing that anyone ever should have to make a choice to do.”
But people are forced into those choices, said Jasmine Carson, the executive director at Wayne Metro Community Action Agency. Carson said over the past year, Wayne Metro received more than 40,000 inquiries related to water support.
“The demand for water bill assistance reached unprecedented levels this year, so much, in fact, that we were forced to close our application earlier than ever before,” she said.
Carson said the decision wasn’t made lightly, and it meant families were left without support. “That is why the passage of this water affordability legislation is so critical,” she said.
Water affordability legislation has been criticized from two opposing angles: both for putting too much cost on utilities, and for not doing enough to help needy households.
Senator Rosemary Bayer (D-West Bloomfield) said nearly 25% of Michigan seniors are eligible for help in the proposed water affordability program. “We need to enact this legislation so that we don't continue to have an unpredictable, ever-increasing need for emergency funds,” Bayer said.
Chang said lawmakers are working to set up a long-term funding structure for water affordability. “I'm feeling very optimistic about the fact that we are growing support in both chambers to be able to move this issue forward,” Chang said.
