glwa

A tentative deal to settle the $55 million dispute was approved Wednesday night by the Highland Park City Council. The GLWA board is expected to vote on the deal next week.

The Detroit enclave has fewer than 9,000 residents, a poverty rate around 40%, and a giant past-due bill from the state-created Great Lakes Water Authority.

Detroit water shut-offs ramp up, alga-blooms in the Great Lakes, behind the scenes at Beaver Island and touring musicians transform the pandemic lockdown into creativity.

A small enclave of Detroit is considering municipal bankruptcy to help rid itself of a decades-old water debt that has grown to about $20 million and threatens to swamp the already financially struggling city. Highland Park and the Great Lakes Water Authority are in court-ordered mediation over how the debt will be paid.

The tiny, low-income city of 8,900 residents owes the Great Lakes Water Authority more than $20 million after not paying water bills for years. A $20.4 million allocation in the proposed Michigan Department of Health and Human Services budget would help the city pay it off.

The biggest change is that the water assistance program is now income-based. Households at or below double the federal poverty level can get credits toward their bills.

The ten-foot-wide pipe that distributes finished drinking water from Lake Huron to some communities in Oakland, Macomb, and Lapeer counties broke on August 13. The break initially led to boil water advisories for nearly one million customers.

The broken pipe is 10 feet wide — the largest in the Great Lakes Water Authority's service area.

Great Lakes Water Authority officials say repairs and testing may take until September 3.

The Great Lakes Water Authority says it will deny all the damage claims related to "unprecedented" rain storms on June 25 and June 26 last summer.