Galt's Gulch

Mark Ruffalo on the Detroit Water Shut-offs

Posted by megsv 10 years, 6 months ago to News
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1:27 mark: No reason why the rich city and state of Detroit, MI can't come up with some sort of program to keep the water on?? He must have missed that bit of news when Detroit went bankrupt...

Looks like Detroit's Water Dept. is standing up to its moochers. Someone's got to pay...

SOURCE URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5z7iiRsjLg

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  • Posted by mkozicki 10 years, 6 months ago
    I think the water department is owned by the City of Detroit. Detroit is bankrupt and asking the rest of the people in the state to bail it out.

    From this

    http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140...

    They are saying "Officials have said more than $89 million is owed in delinquent bills, including more than $43 million from 80,000 residential accounts.".

    So what do they want? They are not paying the bill but don't want to be shut off and the rest of the state should bail out Detroit that owns the water plant? So the people that don't use the water should pay for it so that the people in the bankrupt city can keep getting it free?

    Some days I wonder why I even go to work.................
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  • Posted by scojohnson 10 years, 6 months ago
    So, based on their average monthly bills, and the past-due amounts, these people haven't paid a bill in years... Anywhere else, it's about 60 days and they shut your water / electricity / phone off. How are they special?

    The utilities there must be stressed, the city used to be 1.8 million, and all those hookups are there, while some 75,000+ abandoned homes have been slated for tear down and timber recycle (this month's Popular Mechanics), the houses are worth more for their old growth timber than they are as a house in Detroit...

    They are actually reverting it back to farmland.
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  • Posted by lookdad 10 years, 6 months ago
    This is a fairly humorous issue to me... Water IS free. Dig a well and you'll have plenty of water (most of the time - barring drought and people MOVING water away from areas).

    What isn't free is a company collecting all water that would normally be seeping through the ground to the water table, and the service of delivering that water up to people who would rather pay for it than set up the system to get it themselves.

    Once upon a time, people walked for miles with a water jug to pump a few gallons of water out of a community well. Instead of demanding the federal government provide "free water," perhaps a few protesters could spend their time sweating to dig a community well...?
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    • Posted by TheOldMan 10 years, 6 months ago
      Nothing prevents people from going down to the Detroit River with a couple of pails and scooping up all the water that they want. It is free for the taking. Or putting out pails to catch the rainwater. Oh, they want it cleaned and delivered for free? Ok so how about getting a "community organizer" to organize a work party to build a solar powered distillery that would do a fair job of removing most of the nasty stuff. Then someone in the "community" could study for a Watermaster certificate to run it, add chlorine as necessary or use solar powered UV, and then someone else could stand guard at the tap to dole out the water to passersby. IIUC about 90% of those who had (or were threatened with) their water shut off ended up settling their bill.
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    • Posted by khalling 10 years, 6 months ago
      I see your point. Pragmatically there are laws in place which may prevent that in a city. Water rights are extremely important property rights. Think out west where it 's harder to get to or the midwest for agriculture. Look at the demise of California 's central valley where water delivery systems were shut down to protect a small fish salmon snack on. They cannot dig their way down to saving their farms. These people are free loaders. They want all basic necessities paid for so they can remain tethered to a bleak welfare system that has only brought loss of jobs, violence, drug wars and crime ti their communities. Shutting their water off is a step in the right direction. The vast majority of those bills will be paid. Every utility company I have been a customer of has assistance programs. I 'm thinking about those pics you see of kids breaking fire hydrants to play in on a hot day while their parents watch nearby.
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  • Posted by Technocracy 10 years, 6 months ago
    If Rufallo cares about this "plight" so much here is a handy dandy solution for him.

    Write the city a check.

    If you really want to help thats what you need to do.

    Otherwise admit you only want the face time.
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  • Posted by bradberry1984 10 years, 6 months ago
    Most all surface water has to be treated to be safe to drink and also a high percentage of well water also has to be treated. That treatment process costs a lot of money and it takes trained personnel. Then there is the distribution system and the trained personnel who maintain and run it. Then there is the storage system and pumping system, again trained personnel. Not to mention the required water tests that need to be completed. All of this cost money. You want it to keep pouring through your faucets and toilets...There is a price! I know ALL of this first hand. IT IS NOT FREE!
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    • Posted by $ jlc 10 years, 6 months ago
      Bradberry -
      What you write is true if you are in the professional business of providing water for a community, but it is not accurate if you are providing water for your own home. There are many filtration systems available that can be used by untrained personnel (ie African villagers) to turn filthy water into pure water. Dig a well or scoop water from a river, pour it through a filtration device, add a little chlorine maybe (depending on the device) and you have potable water for your family.

      Jan
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      • Posted by bradberry1984 10 years, 6 months ago
        Jan,
        It is not that easy as you make it sound and most all States prohibit water for drinking straight from a surface water. Chlorine does not inactivate a lot of stuff in the water. It also does not remove TOC’s DO, Solids and it does not reduce turbidity. It is okay for irrigation but NOT culinary usage. In other countries this may be true but not in most all of the US. I deal personally with Water Departments and Water Masters all over my State. Your water rights dictate your usage and culinary is generally not one of them. Most people in the US (unless you do what I do for a living) have NO CLUE what is in their water before we treat it and send it off to the consumer. Here again water is NOT free. If you drill a well it will cost for the driller, the casing, the pump, and the power to run the pump and in some areas a permit.. Then you have to have storage for the water and in some cases a secondary booster pump. A lot of wells also depend on the water table level. In a drought season you might be out of water. Most people do not have the time, luxury or finances to take on this type of system. Believe me when I say that I know this subject matter.
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        • Posted by $ jlc 10 years, 6 months ago
          Ah yes, Bradberry - but I am not one of those people! Secretly, I am a Medical Technologist (ASCP), and, though my work was in clinical hospitals, I have a good idea of what is in the water. Hence my insistence (above) that you use a filtration system first. Some of these filtration systems filter down to the viral level: The chlorine is necessary with some of the systems; it is optional with others. Most of these systems are oriented towards backpacking, camping, and survivalist situations...but were I deprived of water as a utility, I would certainly use a base-camp version of Lifestraw or something similar to provide drinking water for myself and my household.

          OK. This is illegal. Illegal vs thirsty...thirsty wins.

          It costs a bundle to drill for water in So Cal, where I live, but drive point wells are feasible in some parts of the country and could provide a source of (filterable) water for illegal but totally worthwhile personal culinary use.

          So I agree with all of your data but, given the addition of an appropriate filtration system, come to the opposite conclusion - at least for myself.

          Jan
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          • Posted by johnpe1 10 years, 6 months ago
            Jan, we buy water from the county which comes from
            the tennessee river, $25 for the water and $50 for
            treatment of the sewer effluent.

            but, then, we run the water through an RO system
            in the basement, for the kitchen and the ice,
            etc.

            it's gooooood!!! -- j

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  • Posted by woodlema 10 years, 6 months ago
    What a MORON.

    I can tell you this if I have to pay more per gallon for water than someone else I am moving. He must have caught lice or crabs from the homeless he was hanging with he keeps scratching himself.
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  • Posted by johnmahler 10 years, 6 months ago
    Federal government money should not be sought or used. because the states have lost enough autonomy since the Federal Reserve Act, ch. 6, 38 Stat. 251, enacted December 23, 1913, 12 U.S.C. ch. 3, and the passage of the 17th Amendment (taking away the voice of the states) https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/his.... Any greater ceding of states rights will only encourage the Federal government and its tyrannical gripe on the post Constitutional nation. Central banks and Corporations have turned the Constitutional Republic, bequeathed to us by the Founding Fathers, to the 'America Corporation' in which we find ourselves 'corporate assets', chattel, Tribute Slaves. Most Americans, as Henry Ford said, don't understand the FED or accept it as "Black Slaves' once accepted slavery as institutional and Jim Crow laws; post emancipation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUU...
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  • Posted by $ arthuroslund 10 years, 6 months ago
    I personally witnessed the deliberate destruction of Michigan’s manufacturing industry by the Democrat party starting with the takeover of Michigan Legislature by Democrats in 1964. The Michigan legislature was controlled by Republicans for 100 years prior to the Democrat Party takeover in 1964. Under Republicans, Michigan was one of the leading manufacturing states not only in the country but in the world. At one time, 85% of the auto industry resided in Michigan. Democrats continued to control the Michigan legislature until recently. The results were catastrophic. Detroit is just the poster child of what happened to the entire state. Some Michigan cities like Flint are in worse shape that Detroit due to a massive pullout of the Auto and other manufacturing industries. I predict the same will happen to the US if the Democrats continue to control Congress and the Presidency.
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  • Posted by Dullesguy71 10 years, 6 months ago
    Will the folks who failed to pay ever understand that someone has to pay? Do they care? Will they ever care? Or will they continue in their larceny against the poor unfortunates that still pay their debts in that rusting and rotting metropolis?
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  • Posted by jimslag 10 years, 6 months ago
    Federal money to pay Detroit bills, the travesty. Oh wait, don't we already do this? How many million taxpayer dollars found their way into political crony's pockets? If I don't pay my water bill, small as it is, the water company shuts off my water, why should they be any different? Sorry, pay you bills and nothing happens, Detroit found that out the hard way. Thank you Great Society programs.
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    • Posted by megsv 10 years, 6 months ago
      First of all, I doubt many people on this site agree with sending billions of dollars to Israel or sticking our fingers in any other international conflicts. We have no business picking sides and interfering with these affairs and I resent that my tax dollars are financing it. But regarding Detroit's water situation--I was under the impression that many corporate customers' water is still shut off while service to residents has been restored for the moment. While it may be true that water costs have risen, that is no excuse for only half of the customers to pay for the entire water system. In addition to infrastructure problems, might the lack of payments be at least in part why rates have sky rocketed?
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