Nurses Continue to Provide Care at Veterans Administration Medical Centers Despite Payroll Snafu

National Nurse United has condemned the water shut-offs in the bankrupt city of Detroit as a threat to health disporportionately affecting the poor. NNU, a national union for registered nurses, has called for an immediate halt of all water shut-offs to address health concerns and human rights violations, and declared the situation a public health emergency in a press release Monday.

The United Nations formally “recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” A new European Citizens Initiative declares, “Water is a public good, not a commodity.”

A right-wing state and corporate push to cut off water is economic shock therapy at its most ruthless and racist, but resistance is growing.

When Netroots Nation convenes its 9th annual conference in Detroit this month, I hope that attendees arrive pre-hydrated. Because despite living at the hub of the largest group of freshwater lakes on the planet—taken together, the Great Lakes represent more than one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater—Detroit residents are running out of running water. They’re also running into city and state bureaucracies that, alarmingly, don’t seem to care.