Dr. Robert R. Redfield
Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30329
Request for a Nationwide Water Shutoff Moratorium
Dear Director Redfield:
On behalf of our members and supporters, we, the undersigned XX organizations, call on you to take urgent action to stop water shutoffs nationwide to help protect people from Covid-19. We ask that you use your authority under Section 361 of the Public Health Services Act to impose a nationwide moratorium on water service disconnections for nonpayment during the Covid-19 pandemic with safe service restoration for all households previously disconnected.
Water is critical for disinfection and sanitation to control the spread of Covid-19. One of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top recommendations to help stop the spread of disease is thorough and frequent handwashing, but without access to water, people cannot follow this simple — yet crucial — advice. Strikingly, research from We the People of Detroit identified a direct correlation between zip codes with highest rates of water shutoffs and the highest COVID-19 cases in Detroit, and found a substantial, statistically significant effect of water insecurity on psychological distress (see Appendix).
Water shutoffs pose a real threat to human health. Right now, thousands of people could be living without running water in their homes; they do not have water to drink, bathe, clean and disinfect, wash their hands or flush their toilets. Households that have their water shut off will be even more vulnerable to the rampant spread of the coronavirus endangering their health and the safety of entire communities. Seniors, pregnant women, young children and people with diabetes and other illnesses are especially vulnerable.
As of October 1, less than half of the country was protected from water shutoffs by a state or local moratorium, as more than 180 local and state protections have expired. An estimated 177 million people are not protected from a local or state water shutoff moratorium, and hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of water shutoff across the country because they have fallen behind on their water bills (see Appendix).
Now is the time to act to help prevent this deepening public health disaster by issuing a nationwide water shutoff moratorium.
(You can view the appendix by copy and pasting this link into your browser:
https://fwwat.ch/30FloAH)
Sincerely,
National
Action Center on Race and the Economy
American Rivers
Campaign for Lead Free Water
Center for Biological Diversity
Corporate Accountability
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul
Earthjustice
Food & Water Action
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Greenpeace US
Justice Action Mobilization Network
Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice
League of Conservation Voters
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. (LDF)
National Coalition for Legislation on Affordable Water
National Welfare Rights Union
Natural Resources Defense Council
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Oil Change International
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Progressive Democrats of America
Public Citizen
Recode.org
River Network
Sisters of Charity Federation
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team
The Democracy Collaborative
Regional
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Citizens United for Renewable Energy (CURE)
Earth Ethics, Inc.
For Love of Water (FLOW)
Freshwater Future
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, New Windsor, NY
Ursulines of the Roman Union - Eastern Province
We the People of Detroit
Alabama
Alabama Arise
Cahaba River Society
Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust
SWEET Alabama
California
Community Water Center
Lady Freethinker
MLK Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
North County Watch
Restore the Delta
Social Eco Education (SEE-LA)
Colorado
San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council
Florida
Nature Coast Conservation
Illinois
Clean Power Lake County
Faith In Place Action Fund
Metropolitan Planning Council
Prairie Rivers Network
She Votes Illinois
Indiana
Citizens Action Coalition of IN
Iowa
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Iowa Unitarian Universalist Witness/Advocacy Network
Louisiana
350 New Orleans
Maryland
Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility
Cleanwater linganore Inc.
Homeless Persons Representation Project, Inc.
Prince George's County Peace & Justice Coalition
Public Justice Center
Massachusetts
Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station
Old Stone Mill Center Zero Waste Maker Space
Take Back the Grid
Michigan
48217 Community and Environmental Health Organization
Detroit Jews for Justice
Detroit Metro United Church of Christ Social Justice Team
Flint Rising
James and Grace Lee Boggs Center
Michigan Coalition for Human Rights
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
NMEAC
People's Water Board Coalition
The Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit
Title Track
Water You Fighting For?
Minnesota
Community Power
Cooperative Energy Futures
COPAL MN
New Jersey
Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline - NJ
Franciscan Response to Fossil Fuel
Indivisible NJ5
Lutherans Engaging in Advocacy Ministry NJ
MoveOn.org Hoboken
New Jersey Tenants Organization
NJ State Industrial Union Council
Occupy Bergen County
People Demanding Action
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Sussex County
WATERSPIRIT
New Mexico
Common Ground Community Trust
Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety
New Energy Economy
We Are One River
New York
Center for Elder Law & Justice
Church Women United in New York State
Environmental Advocates of NY
Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project
Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement
Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc.
Long Island Progressive Coalition
Metro NY Catholic Climate Movement
New York Communities for Change
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE)
NYC H2O
Partnership for the Public Good
Save the Sound
Seneca Lake Guardian
Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion
Western New York Law Center
North Carolina
River Guardian Foundation
Oregon
Portland Citizens for Lead-free Drinking Water
Rogue Climate
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, on behalf of our low income clients
Water rights awareness of Pennsylvania
West Virginia
Mountain State Justice, Inc.
Wisconsin
Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Milwaukee Water Commons
