The Joy of Flushing, in Detroit
What is the sound of a toilet flushing? For one woman, it’s the sound of freedom.
“For a couple of days, every time I walked by my toilet, I’d just stop and flush it. Just because I could! It’s the little, itty bitty things that lift you up,” says Detroit homeowner Carlina.*
You just helped Carlina and her 4 year old grandson get their water turned on after FOUR MONTHS of going without water service. As you can tell, the relief and happiness you brought her hasn’t quite worn off yet.
Carlina’s a private person, not given to airing her business with others. The whole time she had no running water in her home, no one else even knew.
“I bought water all the time. It was really costly, but what else was I supposed to do?” She had stacks of water stored up, and a five gallon bucket in the bathroom, next to the toilet. “I poured water in my bucket and then thrust it into the toilet right quick.”
“I survived,” she says plainly. “I believe in standing in the gap.” She’s the kind of person who will simply soldier through whatever life hands her, without making a big deal of it. Even when it means not being able to shower at home for months on end.
Otherwise effusive, it’s noticeable when Carlina states anything plainly. She’s given to deeply felt displays of gratitude and thanks. See her note of thanks to The Human Utility (which she knows as the Detroit Water Project) at the end of this story.
After people like you paid $610 to get her water turned back on a few weeks ago, a new Detroit Water and Sewerage employee came out to Carlina’s house to figure out what the problem was. It took her three hours of investigating to get to the root cause: a utility company worker’s carelessness.
The DWSD employee discovered that whomever had installed her internal water meter two years prior had neglected to connect the wiring. Because it was receiving no reading, her external meter simply “pro-rated” (estimated) her bill. DWSD was essentially guessing — wrongly, as it turned out — about her usage. Then they’d simply bill her for the pro-rated amount, which was stunningly high. She couldn’t pay it.
Even after her water had been shut-off, her meter continued to “estimate” her usage, which prompted the utility to offer innuendos about her “stealing” water. To be fair, some desperate people do indeed resort to paying someone with a big wrench a small amount of money to turn their water back on. But Carlina didn’t. “I wish I could just take your word for it,” DWSD employees told her.
Eventually, a customer service representative at DWSD managed to get all the unfair charges reversed.
“Living without water is so hard. I haven’t been needy my whole life, but situations change. You have to deal with it,” she reflected solemnly, now that her water is back on.
“The other day, I burnt my finger on my toast. And I said to my friend, ‘Oh girl, shoot. I burned my finger.’ And my girlfriend said, ‘Well, why don’t you just run it under some cold water?’ We both fell out laughing, you know? Because I just could.”
* Carlina asked us to change her name to protect her privacy. We did, of course.
In her own words:
To whom it may concern:
I am writing this letter of testimony and recognition in regard to a wonderful organization named the Detroit Water Project. This organization blessed me when I could not obtain help from anywhere. I had been without one of the most important Commodities of a home. Water! For nearly four months. My grandson really could not understand or rap his growing mind around it. His imagination just was not vivid enough. Without running water in my home. It caused me to live very primitive. So I became the one with the vivid imagination in order to make my grandson comfortable in an uncomfortable living change. But thanks to Marie AKA Angel lady by way of the Detroit Water Project. My Water Services has been restored. Praise be to God! She truly display concern about the humane living conditions in my home for my grandson and I. And because of that I am elated and sincerely grateful to her help! She made me feel very comfortable and important throughout the transition of restoring the necessity of running water in my home. Although I could use other help with in my home. Hoping by way of Detroit Water Project and Marie. through other organizations that are affiliated with them or through them. I am deeply overwhelmed with joy from here to Infinity. Thank you all so very much four taking the consideration of my home and family and restoring the most precious commodity of a home. which is water.
