Study: Flint paid highest rate in U.S. for water

[Faygo Kid]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Flint residents paid the highest water rates in America even as their water was tainted with lead, according to a national study released Tuesday by the public interest group Food and Water Watch.

A survey of the 500 largest water systems in the country, conducted last year, found that on average, Flint residents paid about $864 a year for water service, nearly double the national average and about three-and-a-half times as much as Detroiters pay. The figure is based on an annual household consumption of 60,000 gallons.

"It far exceeds what the United Nations designates as affordable for water and sewer service," said Mary Grant, one of the study's authors. The United Nations recommends that water and sewer service shouldn't exceed 3% of a household income. In Flint, the charges totaled about 7%, Grant said. . .

Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/16/study-flint-paid-highest-rate-us-water/80461288/

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But they got all that lead at no extra charge . . .

[dchill]

1. Sickeningly and perfectly capitalistic.

[Nay]

16. That indeed is the capitalistic model -- charge what the traffic will

bear for the crappiest acceptable product. And when the product is revealed to actually be unacceptable (poison), why, then have taxpayers fix things. Of course, Flint also mixes in libertarian aims like privatizing everything, which means they have to break the govt systems in place. They deliberately 'broke' the water system, which simultaneously opened it up to privatization AND poisoned the residents, whom TPTB hold in contempt because they are mainly black and poor.

[farleftlib]

21. +1

What happened in Flint is an outrage. You summed it up perfectly.

[procon]

2. Everything combined, everything the state did to that community

was designed to make the living conditions so intolerable that the residents would eventually move out. Then the government could take over the properties as either being abandoned, unsafe or through eminent domain proceedings and resell to their cronies and commercial developers to build new homes and businesses that attract more affluent residents.

[zentrum]

3. There it is!

Destroy an African American majority population for profit. It wasn't to save money. It was to make money!

Pure criminality. There need to be indictments.

[SpartanDem]

9. What profit?

The Detroit system and Flint's new one are publically owned.

[zentrum]

24. You're right...

…I got to my conclusion along the wrong road. On the other hand, it's Republicans we're dealing with. Here's an article from the great Michael Moore on Huffpo called Ten Things They Won't Tell You About the Flint Water Tragedy.


It's well worth a read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/10-things-about-flint-water-tragedy_b_9132150.html


The Wife of the Governor's Chief of Staff Is a Spokeswoman for Nestle, Michigan's Largest Owner of Private Water Reserves.

As Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein: "Follow the money." Snyder's chief of staff throughout the two years of Flint's poisoning, Dennis Muchmore, was intimately involved in all the decisions regarding Flint. His wife is Deb Muchmore, who just happens to be the spokesperson in Michigan for the Nestle Company -- the largest owner of private water sources in the State of Michigan.

Nestle has been repeatedly sued in northern Michigan for the 200 gallons of fresh water per minute it sucks from out of the ground and bottles for sale as their Ice Mountain brand of bottled spring water. The Muchmores have a personal interest in seeing to it that Nestles grabs as much of Michigan's clean water was possible -- especially when cities like Flint in the future are going to need that Ice Mountain.

This Was Done, Like So Many Things These Days, So the Rich Could Get a Big Tax Break.

When Governor Snyder took office in 2011, one of the first things he did was to get a multi-billion dollar tax break passed by the Republican legislature for the wealthy and for corporations. But with less tax revenues, that meant he had to start cutting costs.

So, many things -- schools, pensions, welfare, safe drinking water -- were slashed. Then he invoked an executive privilege to take over cities (all of them majority black) by firing the mayors and city councils whom the local people had elected, and installing his cronies to act as "dictators" over these cities.

Their mission? Cut services to save money so he could give the rich even more breaks. That's where the idea of switching Flint to river water came from. To save $15 million! It was easy. Suspend democracy. Cut taxes for the rich. Make the poor drink toxic river water. And everybody's happy.

[pacalo]

4. Unbelievable. Time for Snyder to be frog-marched out of office.

Has he no shame?!

[NBachers]

5. How hideous does this story have to get before the residents of Michigan revolt against Snider & Co?

As an ex- Kalamazoo resident, I'm afraid I wouldn't recognize my state if I ever went back.

[elmac]

6. By the time the new pipes are installed

and the lawsuits are settled I bet the price tag will be over a billion, I also bet the fascists will find a way for MI tax payers & pensioners to pay for it. One more bet, no one will go to jail.

[NobodyHere]

17. Who else will pay for it?

Except for federal taxpayers.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Fate for the assholes responsible...

[Akicita]

13. The screen would need to be removed.

[lancer78]

8. Is that per person

or per household?

[SpartanDem]

10. How much was Flint marking up it's water?

Last edited Wed Feb 17, 2016, 04:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Detroit is the wholesaler, it maintains the water and sewage treatment plants, main transmission lines. It charges communities based variety factors distances and elevation from treatment plants, usage patterns, etc to local lines. Cities like Flint then markup those cost to cover their local system maintenance. And those markups can vary widely and it's caused more one controversy over what the city charges vs the local markup. Westland, Canton, Livonia, Clinton Twp, Warren, and Sterling Hgts are all other communties on the Detroit system.


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[mwooldri]

11. Good grief! Interesting water cost chart.

I thought water bills were expensive back home, with an average UK water bill of about $550 (no muni water... all private). And to think that Flint is a muni system too.... what the f... went wrong?

[KansDem]

15. Notice public vs. private?

Private: $500.96
Public: $316.20

[freebrew]

23. I like the statement about the maintenance...

"Cities like Flint then markup those cost to cover their local system maintenance"
Wonder who runs the maintenance dept? As I hear one reason for the problems was the old decaying water pipes.

Where did all that $$ go and why isn't anyone in prison for this shit?

[Akicita]

12. It makes sense if they were charging for the water by the pound.

Flint water was much heavier because of all the lead in it.

[Ligyron]

18. HA! good one. eom

[Blue_In_AK]

14. This is unconscionable,

especially if just for water, not including sewer. Our water bill here is about $550 a year, close to $960 with sewer, but our water is great and a flat rate, so I don't mind paying for it. It's extraordinarily unfair to charge this amount to Flint residents when their water isn't even usable.

[Vinca]

19. It makes me realize how much I take my water for granted.

We drilled the well, the water is pure and there's an endless supply. I had no idea people were being gouged like that for a basic human need. The fact it was tainted makes it worse, but once it's safe to drink the cost of the stuff needs to be addressed.

[LittleGirl]

20. holy cow

that's almost as much as we paid in Tucson for water and we had a pool at that house. BUT, it wasn't tainted with poisonous lead.

[wolfie001]

22. Disaster Capitalism meets White Racism!!!!

Over and fucking over again!!!! This shit needs to stop NOW!!!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

25. It's criminal. nt

[CincyDem]

26. WHAT? You think all that extra fortifying iron comes cheap ? n/t