Detroit City Council members responded Tuesday to recurring claims that Southwest Detroit residents received better treatment than people in other neighborhoods that deal with water main breaks during extreme cold.
It’s been nearly a full year since a transmission water line broke in the Central Southwest neighborhood, flooding hundreds of homes and temporarily displacing residents. At the time, local officials said it was the worst break they had seen in a densely populated area.
Main breaks are an annual winter nuisance caused by swift temperature changes. City crews were responding to 51 water main breaks across Detroit at the end of January, which flooded streets and sidewalks with ice that trapped some Denby neighborhood residents in their homes.
Last year’s rupture spilled an unusually massive amount of water because the transmission line that broke is used to carry water across the regional Great Lakes Water Authority system. During a press conference last week, Detroit Water and Sewerage Director Gary Brown said the latest water main breaks aren’t expected to cause home flooding or property damage on the same level as the incident in Southwest Detroit.
More breaks are anticipated until temperatures rise, Brown said. Residents who have pipes freeze or burst in their homes should call (313) 267-8000 to have their water temporarily shut off to prevent damage, then contact a licensed plumber.
District 6 Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero said last week that her constituents had a “pretty terrible” experience seeking reimbursement for property damage through the city and Great Lakes Water Authority. She said residents were given boilers and hot water tanks but many needs remain unmet a year later.
“There’s a narrative that, in Southwest, immigrants received all the resources and their problems were solved,” she said. “That is absolutely not true.”
Several residents who live in other parts of the city have made similar claims during the public comment portion of meetings in recent months, arguing that immigrant communities received special treatment.
Santaigo-Romero addressed the claim again this week, saying “the city did the bare minimum” and emergency response efforts should take lessons from the incident in District 6. Residents were lodged in hotels outside the city but children missed school because transportation wasn’t available, she said.
“It is a divisive narrative that continues to pit Black and brown and immigrant and newcomer and native people against each other,” Santiago-Romero said, also asking her colleagues to help correct the record “when we all know as a city that we did not do them right.”
District 4 Council Member Latisha Johnson proposed creating an emergency fund for residents who experience water main breaks. Council members discussed potential options like repurposing vacant city property into shelter space.
Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett, whose reappointment is pending council approval, said he doesn’t believe state law would allow the city to provide funds to residents but would study the concept.