DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The city of Detroit is planning to spend $1.05 billion over the next five years maintaining its water and sewer system.

The city posted its five-year plan recently in a document for Detroit’s city council members.

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The cost to the city of maintaining sewer and water for residents is being contested by residents who have claimed the city’s policy to shut off for non-payment is discriminatory.

The city had 338,499 customer water accounts in 2023. The city estimates it has 2,700 miles of water mains underneath the ground.

The city if facing a lawsuit filed in 2020 by the ACLU claiming that its water shutoff policy violates the Fair Housing Act because it has a disproportionate impact on Black residents. The case is before Judge Denise Hood in the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. District Court. The residents claim the city violated their Constitutional rights by not first determining whether they had the ability to pay their water bill before it being shut off.

“Technically, the case is still active, but it has not progressed beyond the initial pleadings stage, as motions by the defendants for dismissal have not been decided,” said ACLU attorney Mark Fancher in an email to Michigan News Source. “Discovery and other phases of the litigation cannot proceed until there are rulings on those motions. In the meantime, the City moved ahead with the creation and implementation of a water affordability program called Lifeline. It contains a number of features that we hoped the lawsuit would generate.”

The city’s Lifeline program erases past debt once the resident enrolls in the program. And payments are as low as $18 per month as the bill is based on the person’s income.