(WWJ) It's a big reprieve for struggling Detroit residents behind on their bills, as the city vows to end water shutoffs.
Back in March, as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold in Michigan, the City of Detroit -- with financial support from the state -- began a moratorium on water shutoffs.
And over the past nine months, city officials say water services has been restored to more than 1,300 additional households.
Now Mayor Mike Duggan says the shutoff moratorium will be extended.
"Since March we have had no water shutoffs in this city for lack of funds," Duggan said, at a news conference Tuesday. "And with today's announcement we're going to extend that moratorium through 2022."
"There will be no water shutoffs through 2022 because of anybody's inability to pay," he stressed.
The hope, the mayor said, is to keep it going.
"My goal now is to stop water shutoffs to low-income Detroiters once and for all," Duggan said. "We have secured the funding necessary to continue this effort through 2022, and we are building a coalition to make this permanent."
Detroit got worldwide attention years ago when, while under emergency management due to bankruptcy , it began shutting off water to the homes of people who couldn't pay. Protestors converged on the city with the message that access to water was a basic human right.
At the time, United Nations leaders said water disconnections due to non-payment are "only permissible if it can be shown that the resident is able to pay but is not paying."
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday she's grateful for Duggan's leadership and the work of water advocates in Detroit.
"I urge our leaders in Lansing to follow suit and pass Senate Bill 241, the Water Shutoff Protection Act, to protect Michiganders across the state from water shutoffs during the pandemic," the governor said, in a statement.
"My administration will continue working to ensure every Michigander can give their child a glass of water at the dinner table, and I look forward to partnering with everyone, from the Biden Administration to state and local government, to get it done."
As for the fight against the coronavirus, Duggan said he does not believe a vaccine will be available on a wide scale to city residents until at least March or April.
He said once a COVID-19 vaccine -- deemed safe and approved by the FDA -- does become available, the mayor estimates that Detroit will be able to vaccinate an estimated 5,000 people a day to start.
