I know y’all are probably tired of me talking about water bills***, but it’s a serious problem and we can do better by people. ***My sh!tposts get farrrr more engagement than any of my water twetes.
-
-
Prikaži ovu nit
-
But, for new folks and people needing a refresher, water bills are problematic for families in a number of ways when they can’t afford them. The absolute worse thing that can happen besides the actual shut off is losing your kids.
Prikaži ovu nit -
When someone has kids in a house without running water (or other basic utilities), those kids are considered neglected, and they can be taken away and put in foster care. At The
@HumanUtility, we’ve had to help numerous families in that situation.Prikaži ovu nit -
Technically, we’ve kept hundreds of kids out of foster care by helping their parents with their water bills and saved the state of Michigan millions of dollars in child welfare expenses.
Prikaži ovu nit -
Working on a super-accurate quantification of this, but it is somewhere north of $10MM we’ve saved Michigan in child welfare costs. Based on per diem numbers for caretakers, average times spent in foster care, reported numbers of kids in our system, etc.
Prikaži ovu nit -
Then, you can also lose your house if you don’t pay your water bill. After an extended period of time, many places add that water bill to your property taxes. If you can’t pay those (and you probably can’t if it gets to that point), cities will sell your house from under you.
Prikaži ovu nit -
I don’t have to tell you that this all disproportionately affects Black families. We have a lot of white people we’ve helped from certain areas in Michigan, but overall, Black people bear the brunt of this country’s water affordability crisis.
Prikaži ovu nit -
Other side of this is the federal government’s continued disinvestment in water infrastructure. US govt used to help public water systems with funds. Now they don’t and utils pass the costs that would have been subsidized onto customers—even the ones that can’t afford them.
Prikaži ovu nit -
I include this because I believe in sharing both sides of the story. Utilities are squeezed, too. US federal govt will impose all these standards on public water systems and then not consistently provide proportionate funding to meet those standards.
Prikaži ovu nit -
So, these are things that are happening around water in the United States. Thank you to everyone contributing to what we’re trying to do at The
@HumanUtility (https://www.detroitwaterproject.org ). Policymakers aren’t doing this work, so we will!Prikaži ovu nit -
Currently reading “American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race.” It wouldn’t be called a “moonshot,” but we can do massive things with water in this country.pic.twitter.com/Sc3Uiu5gJB
Prikaži ovu nit
Kraj razgovora
Novi razgovor -
Čini se da učitavanje traje već neko vrijeme.
Twitter je možda preopterećen ili ima kratkotrajnih poteškoća u radu. Pokušajte ponovno ili potražite dodatne informacije u odjeljku Status Twittera.
