Board of Water Commissioners
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
Environment
Utilities
Remote
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Paige Rollins
Commissioners discuss a scheduled meeting with advocates to present a water affordability plan for Detroiters.
Live reporting by
Alex Klaus
Commissioners discuss a scheduled meeting with advocates to present a water affordability plan for Detroiters.
Alex
@mostlikelyalex
Hey guys! This morning at 2 pm I’ll be live-tweeting the Detroit Water and Sewer Department’s Board of Water Commissioners meeting for #DETdocumenters @media_outlier @Detour_Detroit @PlanetDetroit @freep @wdet @BridgeDet313 @metrotimes @chalkbeatDET @DetDocumenters
12:09 PM Jun 15, 2022 CDT
Find something inaccurate? Email documenters@outliermedia.org with the subject “Correction Request.”
Follow along at 2 or read through all of today’s bills of discussion here:
dwsd.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.…
dwsd.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.…
Here’s the agenda (the PDF might automatically download on a computer but you should be able to just view it from your phone)
dwsd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&…
dwsd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&…
In case you need a recap, here’s last month’s meeting curtesy of @williams_ashsue ! twitter.com/williams_ashsu…
Multiple things will come up in today’s meeting, including:
Approving a new chair, vice chair, and board secretary, along with the Sewer Disposal System (SDS) Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2023-2027.
Approving a new chair, vice chair, and board secretary, along with the Sewer Disposal System (SDS) Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2023-2027.
They’ll also be voting on different legislation, including (1 of 3):
A three year contract with Lakeshore Global Corporation for “sewer & catch basin cleaning, inspections, and maintenance services” in Detroit. dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDet… https://t.co/VvFAFsWbdb
A three year contract with Lakeshore Global Corporation for “sewer & catch basin cleaning, inspections, and maintenance services” in Detroit. dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDet… https://t.co/VvFAFsWbdb
An agreement between the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD), Lakeshore Distribution LLC, and Great Lakes Water Authority to construct and maintain a 36” underground storm water drainage outlet pipe to discharge storm water directly to the Conner Creek Canal (🔗 below) https://t.co/HjVNz847f7
*Note it states Lakeshore Distribution will fund the construction of the pipe* twitter.com/mostlikelyalex…
We have a quorum present. I might have trouble identifying speakers for a minute, please bear with me
We’re moving to election and approval of officers! Kinloch is nominating Michael Eisenhower and Mary Blackmon as vice chair. The audio is poor and I hear someone crinkling paper. They voted and there were no oppositions.
Okay! Michael Eisenhower has been the chair for 6 years. I am starting to learn names 😌
John Henry Davis has been nominated (not sure by who, possibly Mary E. Blackman?) and elected with no opposition as board secretary.
On to public comment! A speaker is speaking about lead detection in the residential water on the west side and around the city, and even in the school system. He has come to a meeting a few months ago, and the board promised him a memo answering his questions about how the city
handles lead and lead testing in the city. Sam Smalley from DWSD said the memo has been delayed due to supply issues with their materials to begin the lead service line replacements, I think including copper. He anticipates it to still happen this summer.
@Water4Detroit is here speaking on multiple concerns: Multiple residents are saying they are not getting notice when their water is shut off or pressure is low due to maintenance. He says there is a strong distrust between residents and the department. Thanks for your work Meeko!
Gary Brown, director, is responding saying the concerns around how water advocates and BOWC can work together. He says they are trying to get as much input from the community as possible. He also acknowledges they are working on improving communications with residents
Tiffany Jones is explaining the process for how virtual users can make public comment. You can call in and press *6 or raise your hand in zoom!
A representative from WTP Detroit is saying that we do not need to start from the ground with water affordability. She says we need a long term and stable water affordability program with fixed rates. She says the state of Michigan increased by 100% while Detroit rates have
increased by 285%-possibly even 400% (I did not catch from what year). WTP= We the People
Chairman Einheuser, in response, is asking people to read the Bolt V Lansing, a supreme court document, and another document I didn’t catch, to have a conversation about water affordability
A resident is expressing their grievances around the complications they’ve had to deal with after buying a house from the Detroit Land Bank. They have been to the board multiple times, for 3 years trying to get this figured out. They felt dismissed and rejected after making +
Another board member is apologizing and clarifying a possible misunderstanding. Last time the resident made the comment, the board member said “get this off the table”. He said meant that this should be an urgent issue, but understands how it was misunderstood as dismissal.
Here’s an article from @media_outlier about the land bank and water hook up issue: outliermedia.org/if-youre-sold-…
A resident says she has 3 children who have been hospitalized due to mold in her basement as a result of continuous flooding. She has already called two plumbers on her expense and is asking for a resolution for the issue.
Another WTP Detroit activist talked about water affordability. She suggested checking out their work and research: wethepeopleofdetroit.com/get-help
Chairman Einheuser said he is actually wanting to read a specific publication by WTP Detroit
Another resident is expressing her concern about a possible Flint situation in Detroit. She is asking if there are ant neighborhoods that are on the list for pipe replacements in the NEAR future. She has been told it can take up to 50 years, so not in her lifetime (her words).
Gary Brown is working with a company to identify areas of the city with the most densely populated lead service lines. He says their intent is to put 5 contracts out when they receive enough money. Each contract would be worth $10 million. He says they have not seen the money
yet from the “Build Back Better” bill. When they get to that point, they’ll post a map on their website.
Another WTP Detroit activist is asking about the lead situation. She is asking what the BOWP is doing to push the EPA to implement funding for repairs due to the environmental and health hazards from lead.
@Combsthepoet is here, speaking on water affordability. She’s optimistic to hear there will be an income based assessment by the board, but worries it will not actually solve the issue of water affordability. She calls for TRUE water affordability and assistance.
Another resident is saying she has had to manage constant sewer backups leading to continuous flooding at her block she lives at. She is understandability frustrated because she’s had to take responsibility for these issues which the city should be handling.
There’s a specific event about water affordability held by the board which i’ll be posting about at the end of this meeting when I can get all the information about it together
Commissioner Garcia is asking if theres any way to figure communications between the water dept and fire dept regarding water that is coming out of the faucet brown. She later learned from the fire department that it was because of some work they did on the fire hydrants.
She’s asking if there’s a better way to extend these communications to residents as well, because people were understandably panicking and were asking the water department questions, who didn’t have an answer because the issue was caused by the fire dept.
Gary Brown agrees that the communications should be better. He said this month and in the summer, fire hydrants are going to be worked on so it sounds like this will become increasingly important
They’re currently checking on a possible mistake on the meeting calendar they’re looking to approve. A commissioner pointed out one of the days is a sunday. They will be checking on that, as it should be on a Wednesday.
The recommendations today are coming directly to the board because there was not a quorum two weeks ago.
A roll call has been done on the Capital Improvement Plan I posted about earlier. Read more here: dwsd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&…
This has been passed as well, I’m currently in a rush to catch other motions but I believe it’s of interest to many: dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDet… https://t.co/sCS49DedAo
A commissioner made sure Human Fliers was a minority business. The board confirmed they are. It’s been passed. dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDet… https://t.co/7BPY7cTlxB
In regards to sewer and catch basin cleaning:
Sam Smalley, DWSD, said every district will be targeted for sewer and catch basin cleaning.Smalley said that there will be rotated maintenance cleanings. It was passed
Sam Smalley, DWSD, said every district will be targeted for sewer and catch basin cleaning.Smalley said that there will be rotated maintenance cleanings. It was passed
I didn’t catch why, but they didn’t present directors metrics. Here’s the presentation: dwsd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&…
Mr. Smiley said their water system is on average, 95 years old. He says they don’t have the ability to replace “mains” (spelling? think I missed something) without approval of the state’s environmental and energy department
Einheuser asked how many streets are caving as a result of the flooding. A few commissioners have said they see a lot of them around the city. Mr. Smalley said there is 300 sinkholes, but after the historic flooding last summer, over 300 appear just between june 26 and july 15th.
Meeting adjourned at 3:37 pm! I will be adding a thread of highlights which will include the event on friday shortly.
Agency Information
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is one of the largest water and sewer utilities in the United States, serving more than 200,000 Detroit residential and commercial accounts that includes a city population of nearly 680,000. DWSD’s water network consists of more than 2,700 miles of transmission and distribution mains and nearly 3,000 miles of sewer collection piping.
Documents
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