Friend,

Water is a human right, essential for our very survival. But in the United States—the richest country the world has ever known—people are forced to live without running water. Clean drinking water flowing from our taps is a service only available to those who can afford it.

People who cannot afford it are punished through water shutoffs, which can lead to evictions, foreclosures, and ongoing health problems—disproportionately affecting low-income communities and communities of color. This is unconscionable, especially during a pandemic where washing hands with clean soapy water is critical for reducing infection rates.

For years, together with local and national groups of water warriors on the ground and across the country, I’ve been pushing for water to be treated as the human right it is. But this issue has never been more urgent than it is right now.

Sign now to urge President Biden to prioritize water as a human right.

To address this crisis, Rep. Debbie Dingell and I reintroduced our Emergency Water is a Human Right Act this past week. The legislation was included in a COVID relief bill passed by the House of Representatives last year, but it was not passed by the Senate or signed into law. Now, with Democratic control of Congress and the White House, we have a real chance to make this bill law.

If passed, the bill will:

• Prohibit water and electricity shutoffs during the COVID-19 emergency
• Ensure water affordability protections for low-income households, including authorizing $1.5 billion in grants to directly assist households paying a high proportion of their household income for drinking water and wastewater services
• Require providers to reconnect disconnected water, home energy, and electric services

The bill—with 73 co-sponsoring House members and 88 endorsing organizations—is just a starting point to begin to address our country’s growing water affordability and accessibility crisis.

But it’s a necessary first step, and the Biden administration’s support of it will be crucial. The administration can protect the right to water through executive actions and by helping push this legislation through as part of the next COVID relief package.

Can you sign now to urge President Biden to prioritize water as a human right, starting with supporting the Emergency Water is a Human Right Act?

In my hometown of Detroit, water rates have increased by 438 percent(!) in the last 20 years.

As federal funding for water infrastructure has plummeted and wages have stagnated, water costs have quickly and dramatically risen, with costs 80% higher on average in 2018 than they were in 2010. These high rates, and the punishment for not paying them, disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities like mine.

Mutual aid groups have sprung into action in the face of government failure, such as We the People of Detroit, a coalition of advocates and organizations that have been distributing water to families since Detroit’s 2014 bankruptcy and cruel waves of water shutoffs.

As We the People of Detroit’s Community Research Collective Member Nadia Gaber said: “The areas of highest water insecurity are also those hit hardest by COVID-19, from majority-Black cities to Native American reservations, underscoring the urgency of securing safe and affordable water for all.”

In fact, a recent study found that socioeconomic factors play a role, but that race is the single strongest predictor of one’s access to water and wastewater services: Black and Latinx households are almost twice as likely as white households to lack full indoor plumbing, while Native American households are about 19 times as likely.¹

This is unacceptable. And it’s only getting worse in the midst of a pandemic where millions more people are struggling to pay their water bills, accumulating more and more water debt each month, which keeps them in poverty.

Sign now to urge President Biden: Please prioritize water as a human right, including by supporting the Emergency Water is a Human Right Act.

The water crises in Michigan’s top two majority-Black cities, Detroit and Flint, illustrate our country’s deep racial inequities in water access.

Both cities have a 40% poverty rate, which is deeply tied to our cities’ histories of systemic racism, including segregation, redlining, and disinvestment in Black and brown neighborhoods.

And because Black lives do not matter enough to non-Black people or to people in power, our residents’ concerns about our cities’ water crises have gone unheard for too long.

After poisoning the people of Flint and hiding it from them for years, the perpetrators of the Flint water crisis are finally being held accountable for the devastation they wrought. But the ongoing physiological and psychological trauma goes on, along with people’s deep distrust of government.

And in the state of Michigan, getting your water cut off can trigger Child Protective Services to take away your children, an additional cruel punishment for families simply because they cannot afford water. Water shutoffs can also lead to evictions and foreclosures, displacing people from their homes… in a pandemic, no less!

Our federal government should address our national water affordability and accessibility crisis with a renewed urgency, dismantling these broken systems, protecting all households across the U.S., and ensuring that water is a human right that no one is denied.

The Emergency Water is a Human Right Act is just the start.

We need a comprehensive federal response to this crisis, including more federal funding and a permanent ban, not just a moratorium, on water and other utility shutoffs. We must urgently address the root causes of unequal water access and of our nation’s water affordability crisis. We must commit to a serious long-term solution that extends beyond the pandemic, wipes out existing water and utility debt, replaces aging infrastructure, and ensures that nobody ever lives without running water again.  

Please add your name to help urge President Biden to support the Emergency Water is a Human Right Act and broader, longer-term solutions that enshrine water as a human right.

Thanks for all you do.

In solidarity,

Rashida