Due to high poverty and unemployment rates, relatively expensive water bills are unaffordable for a significant portion of the population. Repeated cases of gross errors on water bills have been reported which are also used as a ground for disconnections. Many residents were not provided with advance warning before their water was shut off and were left without any possibility for administrative recourse. In practice, people have no means to prove the errors, and hence the bills are impossible to challenge, Ms. de Albuquerque declared. In other instances, she heard mothers who feared losing their children because their houses are subject to being declared unsanitary by the Welfare Department when their water is shut off. City managers have failed to maintain any data on how many people have been living without tap water, according to the UN envoys. They called for the establishment of a mandatory federal water and sewerage affordability standard along with the introduction of special policies and tailored support for people in particularly vulnerable circumstances.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 20:28:42 +0000
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