You Can't Frequently Wash Your Hands If the Utility Company Has Turned Off Your Water & Refuses to Restore Service

On April 1st, while corporate retailers skip on payments & homeowners are allowed to wave mortgages, millions of renters will be expected to pay their rent. Accordingly, a nationwide rent strike has been organized.

From {HERE] and [HERE] The advice is simple and universal: Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But for millions of people across the country, that's not simple at all: They lack running water in their houses due to service shutoffs prompted by overdue bills. 

The Rev. Roslyn Bouier remembers when children began to show up at the Brightmoor Connection Food Pantry on Detroit's northwest side, clutching empty pitchers. It was the summer of 2014 and the kids were parched. But their thirst didn't come from playing outside — they had no water at home.

That was the year the city of Detroit started its water shutoff campaign, turning off water to 28,500 residential accounts behind on payments. Through the end of 2019, the city has recorded about 127,500 total service cutoffs, according to the water department, though that figure includes households where the water was turned off repeatedly.

According to the Guardian seven states – Wisconsin, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Louisiana – have mandated a halt to shutoffs, according to data provided exclusively to the Guardian by Food & Water Watch (FWW), a not-for-profit organisation tracking the situation.

A handful of private water companies, which supply about 15% of Americans, have suspended shutoffs.

But just one in five water departments have explicitly agreed to reconnect households currently without running water. The rest have only committed to halting new shutoffs.

"In this pandemic, it's the people who are living on the margins of society and the poorest of our society that's being the most adversely impacted," Bouier said. 

Michigan has the sixth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University's data tracking of the disease. The state has reported 3,657 cases and 92 deaths as of Friday afternoon. Detroit leads Michigan with 1,075 cases and 23 deaths.

We the People of Detroit co-founder Monica Lewis-Patrick said her organization, which has campaigned for years to end shutoffs, has struggled to find bottled water to deliver to families without service because supplies are being hoarded. [MORE]