Obiter Dicta Issue 8 - January 5, 2015

Volume 88   |   Issue 8  |  obiter-dicta.ca The Definitive Source for Osgoode News since 1928 Monday, January 5, 2015 thirsty for justice the privilege to pour ê In what a group of UN experts call a violation of human rights, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has shut off thousands of people’s water after they failed to pay their bills.  Image credit: Huffington Post sophie chaisson › contributor I n september, a Detroit judge ruled that the city can continue to turn off the taps of residents who cannot afford to pay their water bills. Judge Steven Rhodes, who is responsible for overseeing Detroit’s bankruptcy, opined that although “water is a necessary ingredient to sustaining life” there is no “enforceable right” to free water. Judge Rhodes’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit, Lyda v City of Detroit, filed on behalf of lowincome residents who cannot keep up with their bills amid Detroit’s economic downturn. It is estimated that at least 27,000 residents have had their taps turned off by the city this year. The situation in Detroit raises important questions concerning the right to clean drinking water. As water becomes an increasingly coveted global commodity, it is necessary to consider whether access to clean water is solely the responsibility of municipal service providers, which provide water in exchange for a fee, or whether access should be considered a basic human right under international law. In June, United Nations Special Rapporteurs Catarina de Albuquerque and Leilani Farha wrote to the city of Detroit advising that the “disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights.” De Albuquerque and Farha visited Detroit in late October to conduct an informal fact-finding mission in the city. They found that the water shut-offs were happening on an “unprecedented scale” and that they were having a severe disparate impact on “the » see DETROIT WATER, page 11 In this Issue ... EDITORIAL Travel Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 NEWS Detroit Water Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COVER Student Caucus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 arts & culture Jurisfoodence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 sports Toronto Raptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9