ACLU files class-action lawsuit regarding water shutoffs in Detroit

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The ACLU has filed a class-action lawsuit against the City of Detroit and Mayor Mike Duggan regarding water shutoffs. 

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of six residents and the People's Water Board Coalition alleging their constitutional rights were violated when their water service was interrupted. The city says they've made considerable progress since infamously cutting off thousands back in 2014, but the American Civil Liberties Union is demanding a permanent solution.

Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept responds to class action lawsuit

A class action lawsuit was filed by the ACLU regarding water shutoffs in the city of Detroit.

"We have one client, Renee Wilson, who makes less than $8,000 a year and is paying 30% of her income towards her water bill. That simply should not be the case," said Coty Montag, an attorney with the NAACP. 

She said people in poverty can't afford to pay the city's rates, and other cities like Baltimore have plans in place based on income so people don't have their water shut off because they can't pay.

"If Detroit implements a plan like Baltimore's Miss Wilson would only pay about $80 a year for her water service instead of $200 a month," Montag said. 

In a city with 30 percent of people living in poverty, it's an issue of economic and racial justice.

"This results in racial discrimination against the black residents of Detroit," Montag said.

"I think the federal government, as well as Lansing, understands that this is an equity issue, that water is certainly a human rights issue and where there may not have been the will before it's there right now," Detroit Water and Sewerage director Gary Brown said. 

He said water has been restored to every Detroiter they are aware of during the COVID-19 pandemic and there's a moratorium on shutoffs until the end of the year. And Brown said there are enough programs in place and aid dollars coming in to ensure shutoffs won't happen for about two years after that.

But he says an affordability plan like the ACLU is advocating for would be complicated.

"The math doesn't work with an income-based system in the city Detroit, based on the level of poverty, based on the population and we feel based on legal restrictions," he said. But Brown admitted a permanent solution is needed. 

He wants to lobby the government for additional dollars that would allow them to fix plumbing issues, provide a monthly stipend, reduce arrears to zero and give wrap-around services to people in poverty. These are programs the city say are in the works.

Brown said a lawsuit isn't what's needed now. Instead, he says, they need to work together.

"We both want the same thing, we absolutely do. They're well-meaning, they want the same thing that we want. We want to help Detroit," he said.