than most in my city because i live in an area where newer water lines and pumps had to be put in. What happened to everyone in a city paying the same rate?

Smart meters would be more expensive than the water.

What is to keep people from just using massive amounts of water, not fixing leaks, etc?

And ultimately - who pays?

That way everyone, everywhere, can afford the basic necessities of life.

... especially in areas with more people than jobs. Even people who have no jobs need water.

And so many fewer people would require government assistance, that we could easily provide such necessities for those who still needed assistance.

Who's going to pay for it? Resident pensioners on a fixed income? Not only that but Detroit hired a rich sociopath for a 6 figure amount ...I believe it was almost 1/4 million ...and she failed the job and moved back out ...after getting the money ...money that could have been spent on the water system. I highly suggest you search Netflix for the film on the subject. I watched it and there is a lot more than meets the eye on this.

... lest the U.S.A. go hungry.

Rather like Russia in the Ukraine.

But fixing the city, cleaning up the trash, opening businesses, and tearing down dangerous ruins is gentrification, so that is bad.

Nope, the best thing is to get red faced mad and scream at your opponents to go and perform embarrassing (to them) sexual acts. THAT is how you get good things done.

Last edited Mon Jun 30, 2014, 08:34 AM - Edit history (2)

The population peaked at 1.85 million in 1950... now its a little over 0.6 million. The auto industry has by and large left, the good paying jobs have gone, the tax base has gone, and the infrastructure is crumbling. What is left there worth FIXING? Its not the first city in history to become obsolete, and the population move on. For example, Rome was virtually abandoned during the dark ages for almost 1000 years. The Coliseum was being used to graze livestock. Not until the Reneisance did the population start returning, and it didn't boom until Italy was unified and Rome made the capital.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File: Population_of_Rome.png

(eliminate space between File: and Population)

with the payment made as an automatic check-off from any unemployment, ADC, SS cks. If a smart meter is used, the payments in excess of a thousand gals become due. If not paid, the meter ceases flow beyond 1K gals & check-off is increased for payments in arrears. The first 1K amounts can be very low to keep the util. solvent. In addition, public taps should be made abailable for free, governed by smart meters which will detect unusual spikes in use.

But hey, if you prefer cholera, no skin off my ass.

Some people in Detroit cannot afford to pay their water bills. That sucks, and something needs to be done about it. But what?

The cost of delivering water and sewer services is quite expensive. DWS serves a large part of the Metro area, and treating and pumping all that water is expensive. It is municipally owned by the CIty of Detroit, so there is no profit motive, but they still have to pay the Detroit Lighting Department (another municipally owned utility), their workers, the people who make supply and drain pipes, the people who make the mechanical filters and treatment chemicals, the vehicles and heavy equipment.

So, if free water for the citizens of Detroit is a human right, a few questions:

1. Is free water a right for suburbanites as well?
2. Who pays for the free water?
3. How do you minimize waste if there is no economic disincentive?

I am interested in some PRACTICAL ideas of things I can and should support (as opposed to mere insults).

From the socialist perspective - We know SOMETHING must be done, but WHAT should be done?

Less than 1% (closer to 0.5%) had their water turned off in May. The #s that are cited for warnings are 10x that. The size of the water bills show that a lot of the people getting warnings have been gettings warnings for months.

Part of the fee increases this year were to recoup unpaid bills from last year. So low-income people who could pay last year now have higher fees.

Then there are odd reasons for really high water bills. I've never seen a page like this before: http://www.dwsd.org/downloads_n/customer_service/customer_information/dwsd_fees_charges.pdf

The water rates seem not out of line with where I've lived--Baltimore, Newark (NJ), Oregon, Los Angeles, Rochester, Houston.

The sewage rates are what's really high, if I'm reading this right: http://www.dwsd.org/downloads_n/customer_service/rate_schedules/2013_suburban_individual_retail_sewer_rates.pdf .

I'm one of those suburban customers, and I can tell you, we already do.