Haas Institute Director john a. powell and Wendy Ake, Director of the Just Public Finance Program presented their work at the Detroit Water Equity Summit in September, 2019. The keynote and breakout session emphasized the ways access to public infrastructure--including water and sanitation infrastructure--is a signal of whether groups are included within the circle of human concern. The breakout session focused on structural problems in defining and identifying water affordability problems, corporate influence in drinking and wastewater infrastructure, and the general principles of water security in the movement to create belonging. The Summit focused on the status of access to water in Detroit, the city's regional area, and the state of Michigan. Additionally, the Summit extended the problem of water access as a universal problem experienced across the nation. The Summit was hosted in Detroit by MOSES and the Center for Community Change.
