Detroit’s Water and Sewage Department Master Plan for Detroit.
Cheryl Porter COO/DSWD |
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 |
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.
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.
Edna Bell SERCH Consultants |
Charlie Fleetham Project Innovations Inc. |
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