Residents in the embattled city of Detroit, Michigan, have called on the United Nations to help thousands who have been without water ever since the city implemented a mass shut-off several months ago, Al Jazeera America reported.
The city's Water and Sewage Department announced in March it was shutting off the water supply to 3,000 homes and businesses with outstanding bills in order to tackle the department's $5 billion debt.
After months of protests, activist groups including the Detroit People's Water Board and the Blue Planet Project sent a letter to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation last week demanding an end to the violations.
"What we see is a violation of the human right to water," Meera Karunananthan, of the Canada-based Blue Planet Project, said according to Al Jazeera. "The U.S. has international obligations in terms of people's right to water, and this is a blatant violation of that right. We're hoping the U.N. will put pressure on the federal government and the state of Michigan to do something about it."
The groups claim that by turning off the water, DWSD is trying to purge itself of residents who cannot afford to pay their water bills.
As of March, nearly half of the 323,000 accounts under DWSD remained unpaid, the Detroit Free Press reported. The average Detroit resident's water bill is $75, nearly twice the national average.
In the meantime DWSD claims the unpaid accounts, along with thousands of residents that have already moved from the city, leaves the department unable to stay on top of its $175 million in unpaid bills.
"We really don't want to shut off anyone's water, but it's really our duty to go after those who don't pay, because if they don't pay then our other customers pay for them" DWSD spokeswoman Curtrise Garner told Al Jazeera. "That's not fair to our other customers."
Activists also accuse DWSD of getting rid of its low-income customers in order to appeal to private buyers interested in taking over the department. DWSD has denied the accusation.
"We've just changed the way we're doing business," Garner said.
As the group waits for the U.N.'s reply, DWSD has already approved an 8.7 percent price increase.
