Make Detroit water affordable.
This month, Philadelphia started the country’s first water affordability program to help low-income residents pay their water bill on time, generate reliable revenue, and keep the water flowing to impacted households.
For over a decade, Detroiters and water affordability advocates have been pushing city leaders to reconcile the city’s high poverty and high water and sewerage rates by implementing a fair and sustainable plan that gives all Detroiters access to clean and safe drinking water as guaranteed by Detroit’s City Charter.
Calling Detroit “ground zero” for water affordability solutions, the panel listed short-term and long-term ways the city could make water more affordable and bills more collectible.
But they do, every day.
Studies show that income inequality and water inequality are matters of life and death.
The Journal of the American Medical Association recently found that the poorest residents of southeast Michigan die six years sooner than the poor in other U.S. metro areas.
A year after the Blue Ribbon Panel issued its report, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department announced that it would shut off water to 18,000 Detroit customers with delinquent accounts.
Detroit’s elected leaders can make Detroit a water affordability pioneer like Philadelphia.
Labor Voices columns are written on a rotating basis by United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams, Teamsters President James Hoffa, Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber and Michigan Education Association President Steven Cook.

Peru wants to partner with companies on water management.
The minister, Edmer Trujillo, said reaching that goal – a core campaign pledge of centrist President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski – will require some 50 billion soles ($15 billion) in investments in water infrastructure projects such as sewage plants, much of which will be built through public-private partnerships.
It also bars local mayors from owning shares in the utilities, part of a bid to "depoliticize" their services, Trujillo said.
"We want them to operate like any other company," Trujillo said in an interview.
"In coming weeks we’ll start the process of looking at initiatives from the private sector."
Trujillo said the government will invest $1.3 billion in water infrastructure this year, up 70 percent from 2016, giving 1 million more Peruvians access to running water.
"This is a priority that’s becoming reality," Trujillo said.
Some 11 million Peruvians live without sewage systems and 5.5 million lack access to potable water, including 1 million in Lima, the capital, according to official data from last year.
Peru has a population of about 30 million.
Trujillo added that in October his ministry will start a 3.8 billion soles, three-year plan to rebuild some 45,000 homes and thousands of miles of roads that were destroyed by severe flooding earlier this year.

As of April 1, 2018, First Nations will have the ability to carry forward federal funding for infrastructure programs from year to year, according to an announcement made at the Assembly of First Nations general assembly Tuesday.
“You don’t have to scramble now.
You won’t have to panic now.
“When the funds go back to Ottawa, it’s not because they weren’t needed, it’s because it wasn’t enough time to spend it properly,” said Bellegarde.
She said the old paternalistic attitudes of the government resulted in a policy that “has made no sense” and acknowledged that more “fiscal flexibility and autonomy is necessary” for First Nations to govern their communities well and be able to respond properly to the challenges that arise.
Being able to carry forward funds year to year means First Nations communities can begin infrastructure projects knowing they have the time and the money to finish them.
“The bigger issue is working towards long-term, sustainable, predictable funding,” he said.
But Bellegarde said sometimes First Nations cannot afford to do so, and as a result go without these essential services.
Bennett announced the federal government’s intention to work with the AFN to make changes to the policy — which she said may have contributed to the inequities in funding, fire safety, education, water and waste water treatment and more in First Nations communities.
“So today we are beginning the work of working together to change that policy and that funding framework so it would be finally fair.” Bellegarde and Bennett both acknowledged that a lot of work still needs to be done in order to close the socio-economic gap that exists, but emphasized the value of working together to create change.

White Bear First Nation to receive $9.2 million for new water treatment system.
As part of a plan to end boil water advisories in First Nations reserves by 2021, the federal government has announced an investment of $9.2 million to replace the water treatment system in Saskatchewan’s White Bear First Nation, which has been under a water advisory for more than five years.
The announcement was made by INAC minister Carolyn Bennett at the Assembly of First Nations general assembly on Tuesday.
“You should … have the same right as those of us in downtown Toronto to be able to turn on the tap and drink the water and bathe your babies safely — things that most Canadians take totally for granted,” said Bennett.
Being newly elected, Nathan Pasap, chief of White Bear First Nation, acknowledged the advocacy work of former chiefs to get the funding needed for their community and thanked Bennett for helping their community move forward in a positive way.
“We look forward to having clean, safe drinking water in our community,” said Pasap.
“I think everyone here will acknowledge it’s been a long time coming and for far too long, people in your community have not had access to potable water on reserve,” said Bennett.
The money is part of the $1.8 billion announced in the 2016 federal budget to improve water infrastructure in Indigenous communities.
Despite 67 long-term water advisories still in place, Bennett said she is confident the government has enough money and a process in place to complete their goal of ending water advisories by 2021.
In a written statement, Pasap emphasized that a reliable water source is essential to long-term community planning.

Saskatchewan reserve to get clean drinking water after more than five years.
REGINA — Plans are underway to get a Saskatchewan First Nation clean water after more than five years under a drinking water advisory, and to meet a pledge to end such advisories on all reserves.
The project is expected to be complete by December 2018.
The announcement is part of the federal government’s commitment to end long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves by 2021.
Bennett said the five-year plan for funding gives the government "real confidence that we’re going get this done and get these long-term boil water advisories ended."
Indigenous and Northern Affairs counts drinking water advisories for all on-reserve water systems that it directly funds and over which is has jurisdiction.
"Canadians, First Nations communities have yet to see that plan," he said in an interview.
I want to see how they intend to do this but they haven’t been able to demonstrate that at all."
There are professionals who can determine whether the existing timeline is within reach, Saganash added.
With files from Kristy Kirkup in Ottawa

Saskatchewan reserve to get clean water.
REGINA — Plans are underway to get a Saskatchewan First Nation clean water after more than five years under a drinking water advisory, and to meet a pledge to end such advisories on all reserves.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett announced $9.2 million to replace the water treatment system on the White Bear First Nation, southeast of Regina.
"I think everyone here will acknowledge it’s been a long time coming and for far too long people in your community have not had access to potable water on reserve," Bennett said Tuesday in Regina, where the Assembly of First Nations was holding its annual meeting.
"You should still have the same right as those of us in downtown Toronto to be able to turn on the tap and drink the water and bathe your babies safely — things that most Canadians take totally for granted."
More than 800 residents on the reserve southeast of Regina haven’t been able to drink their water since 2011.
The project is expected to be complete by December 2018.
The announcement is part of the federal government’s commitment to end long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves by 2021.
During the 2015 election campaign, Justin Trudeau pointed to 93 different communities under 133 different boil water advisories and suggested he would address the issue as a top priority if his party formed government.
Bennett said the government remains committed to its timeline, noting capacity is building in communities.

(Paris) – French police in Calais routinely abuse asylum seekers and other migrants, Human Rights Watch said today.
The 40-page report, “‘Like Living in Hell’: Police Abuses Against Child and Adult Migrants in Calais,” finds that police forces in Calais, particularly the French riot police (Compagnies républicaines de sécurité, CRS), routinely use pepper spray on child and adult migrants while they are sleeping or in other circumstances in which they pose no threat.
Police also regularly spray or confiscate sleeping bags, blankets, and clothing, and have sometimes used pepper spray on migrants’ food and water, apparently to press them to leave the area.
Such acts violate the prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment as well as international standards on police conduct, which call for police to use force only when it is unavoidable, and then only with restraint, in proportion to the circumstances, and for a legitimate law enforcement purpose.
“It is reprehensible for police to use pepper spray on children and adults who are asleep or peacefully going about their day,” said Bénédicte Jeannerod, Human Rights Watch’s France director.
“When police destroy or take migrants’ blankets, shoes, or food, they demean their profession as well as harm people whose rights they’ve sworn to uphold.” The report is based on interviews with more than 60 asylum seekers and other migrants in and around Calais and Dunkerque, including 31 unaccompanied children, in June and July 2017.
Human Rights Watch also found that local authorities have responded to the return of migrants to Calais in increasing numbers by impeding their access to food, water, and other basic necessities.
A second court ruling, issued on June 26, directed authorities to provide migrants with access to drinking water, toilets, and facilities for showering and washing clothes, with 10 days to comply.
The Interior Ministry should also urgently remove obstacles to refugee protection, including by either establishing an asylum office in Calais or facilitating applications in existing offices.
Local and national authorities should ensure that unaccompanied migrant children have access to child protection services, including shelters with sufficient capacity and adequate staffing.

Cross-country trek throws spotlight on water issues.
Editor McCOOK, Neb.
— Oppressive 100-degree weather forced James Leitner to stop for a few days in McCook over the weekend before resuming his walk from Princeton, N.J., to San Francisco to spotlight the problem of water insecurity in Tanzania.
It helped that McCook was officially the halfway point in his trek of 3,215 miles, coincidentally the same distance a Tanzanian living nine miles from a water source would have to walk each year just to get safe drinking water.
Leitner, 24, pulls 90 pounds of clean water in the cart behind him not only for his own use but as a reminder of the problem he is trying to highlight.
On his website, missioncleanwater.com, Leitner explained that his interest in the subject started in high school when he Googled “water issues” and found that a billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water.
That realization led him to dedicate his life to the cause, including a related college degree from the University of Delaware in May 2015, and running a monthly marathon, carrying 45 pounds of water for a year before setting off on his current effort.
Southwest Nebraska residents appreciate water issues, he said, and there has been no shortage of the “kindness of strangers.” Leitner has raised $24,000 toward construction of wells in Tanzania and hopes to amass $75,000 by the end of his adventure.
His parents and friends are concerned for his safety but fully supportive.
Plus, they can track his every move thanks to a GPS device in his backpack, he said.

‘Trouble in the Water’ aims to give clean water to those in need.
The project’s goal is simple – to get clean drinking water to those who can’t get it for themselves.
Sonya Patrick, who is organizing the drive, says that some GenX in the water is simply too much, and she and others want to make sure the less fortunate in our community can drink safe, clean water free of GenX contamination.
The monthly water drive aims to help senior citizens, and those without transportation or those lacking funds, gain access to bottled water.
"Some of the people in the downtown community can’t make it all the way to Ogden where the free ground water is," Patrick said.
"We want to try to get a filtration system in place in our inner city areas."
The drive is going on every fourth Tuesday of the month at the Robert Taylor Senior homes on North Fifth Avenue in Wilmington.
Drop-off times are from 6–8 p.m.
Copyright 2017 WECT.
All rights reserved.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new report from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) says that drinking water in Minnesota is in good shape, but that residents must be prepared to combat new challenges going forward.
A large section of the report is dedicated to some “could it happen here” scenarios relative to cities such as Flint, Michigan which have endured drinking water crises.
Of this $7.4 billion will be needed for Minnesota drinking water plants over the next 20 years.
“Minnesota water is safe to drink thanks to the work of many at the state and local levels.
As threats to our water intensify, we can’t afford to get complacent,” MDH Commissioner Ed Ehlinger said in a press release.
“Aging infrastructure, increasing levels of contaminants and new knowledge about what is in our water threaten our water quality and quantity.
We must continue our work with property owners, communities, other state agencies and additional partners to ensure all Minnesotans have safe and abundant drinking water.” Water contamination by harmful algae blooms is unlikely in Minnesota.
Each of the last four years have seen this goal eclipsed, and 99.4 percent of Minnesotans had access to water meeting those standards.
Of systems that tested negatively in Minnesota in 2016, 31 community systems tested positive for bacterial contamination, one exceeded the standards for nitrate levels, six for arsenic levels, six for naturally occurring radioactive chemicals, and six for lead levels.
MDH is holding a series of ten townhalls on water quality as part of Gov.