Dingell, Tlaib Push Bills to Restore Federal Water Aid for Low-Income Households
More than 10,000 Detroit households lost water service in 2025 alone after a federal assistance program expired — two Michigan congresswomen want to bring it back permanently.
DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MICHIGAN — Two Michigan congresswomen introduced a pair of bills Tuesday aimed at restoring and permanently funding a federal water assistance program for low-income households. They warned that thousands of Detroit families have lost access to clean water since the COVID-era program expired.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) held a press conference in Dearborn Heights on June 16, 2026, to announce their separate but complementary pieces of legislation targeting the lapsed Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program.
Two Bills, One Goal
Tlaib’s legislation, called the Water Access and Affordability Act, would make the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program a permanent part of federal law. The program was originally created during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since lapsed without reauthorization.
Dingell’s companion bill, the Water Access Act, would allocate $500 million specifically to the program for Fiscal Year 2027. Together, the two measures aim to restore funding in the near term and establish a lasting legal framework for water assistance.
“Too many in our communities are struggling to afford the increasingly expensive water bills, from our seniors to families with children,” Tlaib said at the press conference. “We hear it from all ends of our congressional districts.”
Detroit Households Hit Hard After Program Lapsed
Tiana Starks, communications director of We The People of Detroit, outlined the scale of the water access crisis in Detroit at the press conference. She said that between 2014 and 2020, more than 170,000 Detroit households experienced water shutoffs.
Starks noted that the Temporary Low Income Household Water Assistance Program helped approximately 30,000 families during the period it was funded. Since that protection ended, access to comparable assistance has collapsed.
“But today, after those protections have ended, fewer than 5,000 Detroit households are able to access that level of assistance,” Starks said. “That means that in 2025, 10,000 households had their water shut off. That means thousands of families are once again being forced to make impossible decisions.”
Water as a Human Right
Both Dingell and Tlaib framed their legislative push around the principle that access to clean water is a human right, according to Michigan Advance, which covered the press conference. The congresswomen argued that allowing an essential assistance program to lapse without reauthorization leaves vulnerable residents without a basic necessity.
The bills have not yet been scheduled for a committee hearing, and their prospects in the current Congress remain unclear. Advocates at the press conference called on federal lawmakers to act before more households face shutoffs.
