Photo essay: Detroit’s Water Crisis
Click on any thumbnail to launch slideshow. All photos by Robin Dianoux. Hear and read Carla Green’s report here.
- Roslyn Walker, who almost got her water shut off, meets with a lawyer who wants her to be a main plaintiff in a class action lawsuit she intends to file.
- Greg Eno, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) spokesperson, talks about why the shut offs are necessary to make up the department’s 175 million dollar debt.
- Elevator of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department building.
- Disregarding any stigma it might cause, the company contracted to carry out the shut offs spray paints a blue line on the sidewalk in front of the disconnected houses.
- Abayoni Azikiwe, a community organizer with Moratorium Now, speaks in the organization’s office about the link between the shut offs, the Detroit’s bankruptcy and other austerity measures in the city.
- Window of Moratorium Now’s office. The dispute over the shut offs is part of a larger fight over the legitimacy of the city’s debt and the necessity of the bankruptcy.
- Although residents receive a general warning on their bill stating that the water might be shut off if not paid, they do not receive any further notice before the shut off is enforced.
- Demeeko Williams is a member of the Detroit Water Brigade, an organization that is trying to raise awareness about the water shut offs both locally and internationally.
- Protesters in front of DWSD headquarters.
- During the public comments session of the annual meeting DWSD’s commissioner’s meeting on June 25th, several people got up to denounce the shut offs.
- Demeeko Williams advocates a change of policy at the water board meeting.
- A postcard made by the People’s Water Board, a coalition of organizations working on issues related to water in Detroit.