be almost universal at this point ... and it's only going to get worse. Restrictions to conserve supply, I agree with ... but keeping life-sustaining water from anyone should be criminal, imo.
Baltimore Shutting Off Water To Thousands
By MintPress News Desk
Source: MintPress News
May 1, 2015
Detroit activists garnered international attention last year for the plight of their city’s most impoverished residents, who faced
water shut-offs for unpaid bills despite the city’s high unemployment rate and collapsed economy. United Nations experts were among many who expressed concern that
water shut-offs violate basic human rights.Following Detroit’s lead, Baltimore has started
issuing shut-off notices to residential water customers with overdue bills. According to the Baltimore Sun, residents were notified of impending shut off if their accounts were more than six months overdue and they owed more than $250. The efforts have proven profitable: City officials report collecting $1 million from 1,500 overdue accounts.
That total reflects only a small portion of the $40 million owed to the city, however. Commercial accounts owe roughly $15 million, and of that total, 40 businesses owe $9.5 million.
Writing for the Baltimore Brew, Mark Reutter and Danielle Sweeney point out that the
biggest delinquent account is RG Steel, which is owned by a wealthy billionaire investor. Despite unpaid bills amounting to about $7 million, the city won’t see any of that money because the assets of RG Steel’s Sparrows Point steel mill were liquidated in a bankruptcy.
Reutter and Sweeney warn that shut-offs could soon affect 600 residential customers per week. Likewise, human rights advocates are sounding the alarm. The Sun reports:
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