What Does it Take to Make a Great City: Investment in Water Maintenance

By Richard C. Clement


Detroit’s Water and Sewage Department Master Plan for Detroit. 

Cheryl Porter
COO/DSWD

On February 20^th, the Detroit Water and Sewage Department’s (DSWD/ www.dswd.org ) Retail Steering Committee presented an update on their Master Plan at New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church.   DSWD serves 3.6 million people in the City of Detroit and 129 communities in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties. This is a 2 year project that will direct recommendations on the 20 year plan for capital improvements and associated costs. The plan will help provide guidance in the areas of water rates, maintenance and a conceptual design for identified priority improvements for the first 5 years. Water rates are determined by a formula calculating the median income of the city/township it serves times %2. 



Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Porter gave a 45 minute presentation on the plan that included progress on:

1.       Signing 12 out of 17 consent agreements with the various Unions
2.       Describing the differential between the fixed assets and the maintenance costs
3.       Making a plan on maintaining the integrity of the  infrastructure

DSWD Master Plan

The department is responsible for maintenance and replacement of aging water mains.  The material used to upgrade the water system must be of a durable nature and designed to last more than 20-30 years.  Different compounds made from natural products that are combined with concrete to make it last longer must be considered because the water system is a vital part of the quality of life for everyone. 




Managing the water through metering and leak detection will play a crucial role in sustaining revenue and paying for system.  With the new technology, DSWD will be able to determine if a property is using water at an abnormal rate such as, someone having a leaking toilet or pipe in their home and giving reports on water usage at a daily rate.  This technology would help a home or property owner to manage their water use so much that you will be able to determine the cost of getting a plumber to fix a leak to save long term cost to the consumer.  As it stands now, the water system was losing money up until 2011 when the rates were increased. There was a small profit for 2011 until the projected maintenance costs of 2012 through 2014 were included.


 






Edna Bell
SERCH Consultants

The responsibility of managing the water is determined by a seven member board.  Currently there is no plan to have an elected water board similar to the district/at large model in the City of Detroit. There would be legitimate reasons to have an elected water board because they would be more accountable to the people. This would be much better than a Federal Court managing the water system because an elected board will lead to better transparency,  prompt disclosure of technical data and,  discussion of project ideas and recommendations with an emphasis on group problem solving to promote levels of trust between the public and DSWD.
 



Charlie Fleetham
Project Innovations Inc.

The actions above will create better Customer Service for DSWD and their customers. For the residents of Detroit, this is crucial information that will help our community grow and prosper. To help Detroit prosper we recommend that you get involved with your government by participating in the decision making process with, your writings on paper, email and, by your presence at steering committee meetings.

 

Apology and explanation of Detroit Fire Department post.

by Richard Clement
 

Closed Firehouse at Livernois and Curtis
District #2

I do apologize to the Men and Women of Detroit Fire if you were offended by the statement Bed and Breakfast, especially the widows.  This is a misunderstanding between the intent of the message and what it should have implied that being a Firefighter is a good job with a lot of dangerous and hard work.  Some of the firehouses that I worked in doing computer hardware and software upgrades, the kitchens had bbq fire pits and gas grills installed.  I had the chance to observe a few Firefighters cooking sitr-fry one day at a firehouse and, it looked so good and smelled even better.  They were pretty nice to me also but I could not stay for dinner.  We want our firefighters to be well fed, well paid and, safe when they go to work. If the facilities need an upgrade, then make a list and it will be addressed.   Mr. Cushingberry never wrote any of the messages so don’t hate on him. Therefore I would  be more than honored take up all of the offers that some of you made to Councilman Cushingberry to ride a rig, put on some gear and,  go up the ladder on the fire engine. I will be leading an investigation of DFD facilities for the councilman. Starting with the firehouses in District 2, I will be going to see what is REALLY going on in DFD as an investigator. If additional hardware is needed then, your concerns will be addressed.

We will be adding additional media content creators on the Facebook page for Mr. Cushingberry. This includes more media personnel and unpaid interns in journalism. Mr. Cushingberry has no intentions on resigning over a traffic ticket or, resigning period.  After thinking about it over the weekend, I am not quitting either. It is time to get up and walk it off. In 30 days the council has accomplished a lot. Board positions have been filled, corporation counsel has been appointed and the streetlights are coming on.  This does not sound like a dysfunctional group of councilmembers. When all these facts come to light, Nolan Finley is still wrong and Richard Clement was right.  Given my new position, others will have to speak up and out for me a little more advocating the causes that I was speaking out for in Lansing and Detroit.

Sincerely, Richard Clement – Legislative Aide to Councilman George Cushingberry Jr.