Courtesy of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation
For years, the Water for All coalition has been working with communities across Chicago to demand affordable water. In the last 15 years, water rates have quadrupled, despite the fact household income has only increased 35 percent.
On April 27th, at the opposition of Chicago’s communities struggling with affordable water, Mayor Lightfoot is planning to introduce a different ordinance around Water that will not address the looming water affordability crisis.
The Water for All Coalition is calling for immediate action around the rising water rates. The coalition is demanding an expansion of Utility Billing Relief to offer more aid to residents with unaffordable bills, to include renters in water debt relief, and to increase the amount of relief offered to families with the highest bills and lowest incomes.
“Under the current Utility Billing Relief, my income was $400 over qualifying for water debt relief, but my water debt was $8, 000,” shares Carla Padgett, a Southside resident. “It wasn’t until I lost my job that the city was willing to help me pay off this debt. Under Water for All, I would have received help with the bill while being able to maintain my employment.”
In 2019, during her campaign, a question was posed to hopeful Mayor, Lori Lightfoot: “Water is a basic human right, universal access to safe water is essential for public health and community well-being. Would you support legislation that reduces water rates for low-income families and increases rates on corporate and industrial users?” Her response at that time was, “Yes, that’s easy”.
Three years later, Mayor Lightfoot has yet to support the Water for All Coalitions demands, or the sitting Water for All Ordinance in Chicago’s Environmental Protection Committee. Instead, she is proposing an alternate, watered down ordinance that will not provide relief to those still struggling to pay their rising water bills.
Now, communities in Chicago are left asking, “If supporting Water Affordability is so easy, why hasn’t the Mayor done it yet?”
