JACKSON, Mich — Close to 15 percent of the Jackson's residential water customers are so far behind behind on payments that they'd be facing water shutoffs if the city didn't have a moratorium, about 2,200 accounts.
"That is a huge number," said Jackson public information officer Aaron Dimick.. "Usually in a normal cycle before COVID, we probably see maybe only 100 or severely less than that. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten over 100, it’s usually less than a couple dozen of doing water shutoffs so this is a huge thing."
Which is why city officials have allocated $246,000 in federal COVID-19 relief funds to the water shutoff protection program.
Now, it's up to the Community Action Agency to disperse that money to those who need it.
“Reach out now and take care of it before you are shut off," said Community Action Agency program relations director Laura Reaume. "Once you’re off, the process is a little more difficult to get you turned back on. Just takes a little longer. So, if we can serve them now before they’re shut off we don’t have to worry about them being shut off having pipes become frozen some of those additional things that happen when your water is shut off.”
City officials want to remind water customers that, despite the moratorium on shutoffs, charges are still accruing and customers are still responsible for paying their bills.
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