Representatives Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib joined water access advocates on Tuesday to draw attention to a bill they re-introduced in April that would create a permanent fund for help with water bills.
Tlaib said her legislative effort to help low-income people pay water bills and stop water shutoffs came after reading a news article about a recently retired couple who melted snow in a bucket to flush their toilet.
“I just thought, 'oh my God, that's so incredibly inhumane,” Tlaib recalled from the podium at a press event at the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency in Dearborn Heights. “Why can't we make sure that his water stays on? Especially when he worked all his life and it was just the water costs went up.”
Water costs have been rising across the state, as federal investment in water systems has plummeted according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan. In 2023, outstanding water bills nearly brought the city of Highland Park to declare municipal bankruptcy.
As inflation rates rise, some low-income and fixed-income Michigan residents may find it harder to continue to keep up with their bills. And while the federal government offers a financial assistance program to offset the cost of energy bills, there is no such permanent measure for water bills.
Tlaib and Dingell helped push for a temporary water bill program similar to the program for other utilities during the pandemic.
“But the money has run out, and that's why we're here (advocating for this bill),” Tlaib said, adding that the Michigan portion of the $1.1 billion federal fund helped over 30,000 households in the state pay for their water bills and maintain running water in their homes.
“No person should have to decide whether they pay their water bill or buy groceries," Dingell said. "No senior living on a fixed income should worry that turning on the faucet could mean falling behind on their medication, and no child should ever come home to a house without running water because their family couldn't keep up.”
Dingell said she’s pushing for her colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to consider the measure. But, both she and Tlaib said, it's unlikely to be taken up before the midterm election.
Tlaib said she could see the bill finding a similar path forward as the COVID measure by funding the bill through the EPA budget, but, she said, it would most likely require winning back the gavel – though she stressed that there was bipartisan support for funding water assistance.
“No one's in opposition,” she said. “I think it's just more about how much (we can appropriate) and when.”
