The DSWD should be hauled off and put in the Hague.

Look Putin, people didn't pay their water bills, now the water is shut off. If I don't pay my water bill, my water gets shut off. This is their own fault for not paying their bill

Safe drinking water is a human right. The UN is quite right to express concern about this case. Even ultra-conservative Rush Limbaugh, on his radio show, accepted that many of the people faced with losing their water supply cannot afford to pay the bills.

Domestic water supplies should be metered and paid for via general taxation.

Shutting off water spreads disease and hurts children and the elderly.

Shutting off water is only permitted if you are able to pay.

So you expect them to take a huge loss to let tens of thousands of people have water? What will we do then when the water company goes out of business, and no one has water?

Let the state supply people with water, paid for through taxation.

Water should be publicly owned. If it operates at a loss it operates at a loss. It's a public good.

Indeed, the water supplier in Detroit is a department of the city government. It is not a private company and will not "go out of business" as you claim, Chaqa.

Has anyone read Dhalgren? Detroit reminds me of Bellona.

Pretty much what Jamiet said. Chaqa you can't view this in a vacuum of just a water issue. Detroit has been going through a series of pratfalls that have largely been the result of poor management at the top and sometimes outright racist policies against its black inhabitants. The fact that they are now paying for this through having their water cut off when they are largely already some of the worse off people in the nation is a insult and a tragedy. Something has to be done, this country can't be run like a business.

Go out of business / not have enough funding, same thing. You want taxes to pay for everything, but money doesn't grow on trees, and much of the country (and especially Detroit, I believe) is already in EXTREME deficit.

Detroit's already in bankruptcy court, so increase their debt some more. Give everyone free water and let chaos rule.

You ever see Escape from New York? Can we just do that with Detroit?

So since "money doesn't grow on trees" some Americans will just have to do without water.

What a third world shithole America is.

Water shouldn't be a state resource anyway. Access to clean water is a human right, as others have said. It should be national. Considering much of the country is struggling to keep the water supply running anyway, nationalizing it couldn't possibly make things worse than they are, specifically out west.

Money doesn't grow on trees, until there's a war or the DoD needs a new fighter jet. Well, then there's plenty of money.

America doesn't have a problem with lack of resources, it has a problem with resource allocation.

Now this is *slightly* out of date, but:

http://www.freep.com/article/20130103/NEWS01/301030088/Audit-shows-Detroit-has-327M-deficit

How are they supposed to pay for it when the entire city is in debt and no one pays their bills?

@Chairman: two separate issues really. Detroit's city budget is not related to national defense, unless Detroit has its own private aircraft carrier that operates on Lake Michigan.

I'm a big fan of defense budget cutbacks, but this is separate.

Chaqa, what's your opinion on the paragraph about Detroit Public Safety, Palmer Golf Club, Joe Louis Arena, and Ford Field?

@ bo_sox: Yeah, I was using "state" in the "national government" sense, rather than "american province" sense - sorry to be unclear. I completely agree with your proposal - a nationalised, federal water service would be my thinking on this one too.

@ Chaqa: "I'm a big fan of defense budget cutbacks, but this is separate."

No, it isn't really. Aircraft carriers are paid for from general taxation. This could alternatively be used to provide water to people instead of billing them seperately for it.

"You want taxes to pay for everything, but money doesn't grow on trees"

It's fiat currency with a floating exchange rate. US can pay for whatever it needs to pay for.

Well, the Red Wings arena and Ford Field aren't too much in debt for a venue of that size, so those are fine for the moment, but there's no way the golf course should remain open if they owe a $2M water bill. That's insane. Is Detroit Public Safety a government agency?

No one here is arguing to keep the golf course open.

So Detroit Public Safety is the headquarters of police and fire. Seems like that should not have water shut off. you know, to the fire department.

"What a third world shithole America is"

I am amazed by the fact that we Europeans don't realize that more often! Our vision of the USA is clogged by movies and TV shows...

I have a question : does the american government actually controls it's own money? because i feel like the fact that there's always money to go to war doesn't really come from a bad allocation of funds but from a lack of control over it. (correct me if i'm wrong i know nothing of this)

I think that represents a pretty serious case of misplaced priorities, Chaqa. Consider: About 4,500 accounts have had their water shut off since March, according to the article. These were account that were more than $150 overdue or more than two months delinquent. For the sake of argument, let's say that the average of those delinquent accounts wasn't the minimum of $150, but more than double that, $400. Again, just to add some fudge factor.

Now let's consider the smallest of the corporate delinquent accounts from the article, the Detroit Lions NFL franchise, which owns Ford Field. As of August, 2013, they were the NFL team with the highest payroll, having spent $76 million on one player alone. The gate receipts from Ford Field were around $46 million. Setting aside for the moment the odd inability to scrape up $55,000 to pay the water bill while finding $76 million for Matthew Stafford's contract, let's look at what would happen if the water company cut off the water to Ford Field.

First, I think we all know that, automagically, the money would appear and services would never actually be interrupted. But what difference would that make? Well, $55,000 / $400 = around 137 homes, presumably already somewhat disadvantaged, could be spared from having their water cut off. The $80,000 that the Red Wings, a debt-free NHL franchise, owe would alleviate the need to cut off water to another 200 homes, again using our above-the-minimum past-due balance value. $2.2 million? Just from the golf club's bill, that solves the immediate problem, paying 5,500 bills of $400 each.

So, instead of making a freakin' country club pay its bill, we've cut off the main source of clean water for drinking, bathing, washing, and cooking for *4,500* homes? I don't care what the U.N. thinks about it. The rest of us should be hopping mad.

As for Detroit Public Safety, I don't think they pay for the water they use to fight fires. I could be wrong...