Detroit to restore water services to thousands amid COVID-19 fears

Thousands of Detroit residents who have had their water services shut off due to nonpayment of bills can have it restored under a plan that aims to allow them to wash their hands at home as a way to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus

The Coronavirus Water Restart Plan will be in effect for the duration of the global outbreak of the virus, officials said Monday.

Close to 3,000 households in the city have had water service disconnected, according to a Detroit Water and Sewerage Department spokesman.

Several thousand others have been notified this year of pending service disruption. The shutoffs have spawned protests in recent years by various groups in the city.

The state will cover the costs of service reconnection for the first 30 days of the plan, according to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office. Customers can then have service restored or keep their water on for $25 per month.

So far, there have been no confirmed cases in the state of Michigan of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. More than 500 infections have been reported in the United States.

"We know that washing hands is an important defense to this virus," said Gary Brown, director of the City of Detroit's water and sewage department.

The amount a Detroit water customer owes will be deferred until "after the COVID-19 situation is under control," the water department said in a release.

Customers will then be transitioned to an assistance program or onto a payment plan.

Groups have spent the past six years protesting water shutoffs in Detroit, saying they target the city's poor. About two dozen demonstrators were arrested in 2018 for blocking a light rail line in downtown Detroit to protest the shutoffs and treatment of poor people.

Washington-based advocacy group Food & Water Watch released a report in 2018 that said an estimated 1.4 million people lost water service in 2016 because they got behind on their bills.