All the Water in the World, and None of it to Drink: Community Perspectives and the Suburban Role in the Detroit Shutoff Crisis, the Lifeline Plan, and a Just Water Future

Thesis Advisor: 

David Palumbo-Liu

Advisor:

Sibyl Diver

Khalid Osman 

Abstract: 

All the Water in the World and None of it to Drink is story of what happens when structural racism, disinvestment, and local and state policy decisions align to cut off the water of 141,000 in the Great Lakes State's largest city over a decade. But more than that, it's a story about how we have created the conditions for widespread failure in disinvested cities, and then act with shock and disdain when their local structures fail.In 2022, Detroit put in place a water assistance plan that, on the surface, was everything activists ever asked for. But one year in, problems and distrust persist. What does it take to move forward after a decade of harm? And what do the suburbs and bigger governments owe the city?

View final Honors Thesis here.