John Conyers appeals to Obama over water shutoffs

At the Detroit News -

"The water department, responsible for about $6 billion of Detroit’s $18 billion in debt, is a major issue in the city’s bankruptcy. Earlier this year, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department said it would be more assertive about delinquencies. About 46,000 shut-off notices were sent last month and service to about 10 percent of that number was recently cut.

Conyers, who also sent letters to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and city water department Chief Executive Sue McCormick, specifically asked for some of the $200 million available to the state through the federal Hardest Hit Fund. He also urged an “immediate end to the shutoffs” and the designation of a public health emergency that would be “eligible for direct federal relief.”

There was no immediate response from federal officials."

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