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Detroit • Welfare rights groups want a United Nations agency to help Detroiters whose water service has been cut off due to unpaid bills.
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department launched an effort in March targeting residents and companies more than 60 days in arrears. The department says it sent 46,000 notices and cut off service to 4,500 customers.
The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press report that welfare groups have appealed to a representative at the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights who handles safe drinking water and sanitation issues. The groups say water service should be restored to delinquent customers and that it is a matter of human rights.
On Tuesday, Democratic Congressman John Conyers of Michigan issued a statement calling the shutoffs "inhumane."