Garner said the reality is that nearly half of Detroit Water and Sewerage customers can’t pay their bills; and that has led activists to lobby the UN to step up and take action.
“If they do contact us we are willing to speak with them,” she said, adding “We owe it to the customers that are paying to collect from those that aren’t. Somebody has to pay for the water.”
And while Garner says water is “a God-given right,” she says there is a cost to move water from the water resource to the customer and that the infrastructure costs money.*snip*
Posted Kathy Ward, “This is just insane. If someone is that destitute that they truly cannot afford their water bill, there are already welfare programs in place for that. I’m guessing those same people not paying their water also have a TV, cable, I-phone, etc. People need to get their priorities straight, not expect another government handout.”
Ouchie. That had to hurt.
What? They have a right to those i-phones! You heartless person you! You should just pay more taxes, or do you feel that you are entitled to an i-Phone too? You obviously have too much money if you think you should be able to get an i-Phone with your own money!
ReplyDeleteSomething is dubious about this report. First, it fails to mention that sewage costs are included in the water bills from Detroit Water and its suburban customers. If you rent a flat or apartment you pay for the same sewage that the guy with a half acre yard....e.g., run off costs. Next, 50% would have to include more than the entire population of Detroit city proper...as Detroit Water provides the water for 90% of the surrounding suburbs. Finally, the ratio of bill payers needs to be matched to homeowners versus those who are landlords.
ReplyDeleteThat said, nothing here surprises me anymore.
Water is a God given right.
DeleteSewers, not so much...
I've never thought about it much. I've always presumed sewer costs were part of water bills. What do other municipalities do? Are Water and Sewer costs combined as they are here? Does said bill cover waste water treatment as well? It does here. How about sewage systems per se...aren't most designed in redundant format...e.g, one for run off water and another for sanitary sewage and waste? Very few in Michigan are left that handle both sanitary and run off in the same system...and they are being converted.
DeleteNow doesn't everyone want to know how bird poop, fertilizer, people poop, etc is handled? You think that water you drink just falls from the sky in to nice clean bottles and stainless storage tanks? Eh? Whot?
Now about this "God-given Right" thing. Uh, no, those of us in freshwater country, like the Great Lakes, do not think of it as God-given for just anyone to pop in an take it away. We fight that crap all day every day and some of it still happens.
DeleteWater is a resource, and from my point of view, is no different than any other mineral right matter. Why Texas and Oklahoma start sending me free gasoline I'll consider letting them tap Lake Michigan (NO...NOT really)...same for California and the west coast...they start actually paying for the water (full price, not just end line transit) they cadge from surrounding states then they'll be entitled to enough for the Central Valley...which they now squander to save a smelt nobody even knows if endangered and quench thirst in a desert coastal zone called Los Angeles which other wise would be suitable habitat for no more than a few thousand hunter gathers.
See...water really is a resource, like other resources, you should plan human development around its availability. If you wouldn't plan a city on a bare rock without any fresh water features (like several islands off the coast of Maine), so why do we persist in in doing so inland on rocks and deserts?
BTW...as I understand it, a significant porrtion of the issue between Cliven Bundy and the BLM involves water rights and how BLM has progressively (of course) removed them from the grazing lands historically used by his ranch.
Okay ;) rant over.
Okay, so I lied...rant is not over! One more thing (like on "The Five" of FNC)...and that is: The frigging ignorant obstinance of politicians in Washington and Chicago to shutting down the man-made, not nature made, reversible flow canal system that feeds all manner of pollution from the Mississippi basin in to the Great Lakes basin at Lake Michigan. From big stupid 20+ pond flying slabs of fish to a nice add mixture of poop, and fertilizer run off, from one basin to another.
DeleteYes, engineers did it. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean it makes any sense to do so. Progressives like to blame business interests...so okay that really is who is to blame in Chicago, along with teat suckling politicians both there and in DC, and they are all progressive jackasses to begin with....so goose/gander theory applies in my "don't tread on me" mentality.
Oh, and one more one more thing ;) ...y'all do NOT want me to tell you how much money all y'all's paying to restore man wrecked sheet flow drainage in Florida.
DeleteHelp me, I can't stop. Here's an example of just how God-given things can be. Many moons ago as a young flatlander new to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, I loved to fill my canteen from fast running streams above 9000 feet where I was living at the time. Okay a couple times, then BLAM!...I got the worst case of God-given giardiasis along with dysentary possible. I rode with minimum three pairs of underpants in my saddle bags for a month, along with two rolls of TP. I did shed my city kid fat, however.
DeleteSee, once accustomed to mountain stuff, you might become immune to the less pleasant aspects...however, you must realize that those beautiful mountain streams are natures sewers...as well as fresh water drainage. See mountain critters poop too, what up at 12,000+ feet...and at 9,000 feet you get all the benefits ,not just the water. :-)
OMG Ari, your story just reminded me of the worst three weeks of my life, while in Pakistan. However, I did lose 17 pounds.....
DeleteJourdan... please you armor gong I respect yada uyada ...
DeleteI did use some pounds... but the eventuate was top be e use up supremo some pounds ponderdpus. .
DeleteFuck it, omne tome verfy domomng/
Ari - dude - r u ok? Just checking. Left you a voicemail...
DeleteOK, that is unusual, and a little scary. Ari, I hope you are OK, too
ReplyDeleteLewy, did you her anything from Aridog?
ReplyDeleteYes - he checked in - we are all present and accounted for :)
DeleteGood. Glad you are doing well, Ari - those two comments almost looked like the keyboard equivalent of the garbled speech caused by a stroke
ReplyDelete