Residents and canvassers press Bay City commission to back statewide water-affordability measures

Several visitors urged Bay City commissioners Wednesday to support statewide water-affordability legislation, describing conversations with residents in Bay City and other Michigan cities about high water and sewage costs and the strain on low-income households.

Sylvia Ordugno, introduced as a statewide organizer on water affordability, told the commission she had canvassed neighborhoods and found residents worried about rising water and sewage bills and limited ability to pay. "Residents cannot be expected to carry these costs," Ordugno said, and she asked commissioners to consider passing a resolution in support of state-level water-affordability measures.

Roslyn Walker, who identified herself as a resident and canvasser, described conversations in shopping areas and neighborhoods in which people reported limiting water use for cooking and laundry because of cost. "They are having trouble paying their water bills," Walker said.

Alton McIntyre, a canvasser with the Detroit Water Board Coalition, said he had spoken to Bay City residents who faced the same pressures he has seen in Detroit — fixed incomes, high water bills and difficult trade-offs. "Water is something that we cannot live without," McIntyre said, calling water affordability a statewide issue.

Speakers asked the commission to support a resolution for statewide help rather than leaving each city to address affordability independently. No formal commission action on a water-affordability resolution was recorded during the meeting; speakers said they would appreciate the commission’s endorsement to help momentum at the state level.