Detroit Water Dept. Layoffs Prompt Pollution Concerns
By John Wisely, Detroit Free Press 7:22 p.m. EDT
October 13, 2015
Water department lays off about 100, including chemists and plant technicians.
Restructuring seeks to reduce employee count and costs.
Great Lakes Water Authority set to take over management of the department.
Layoffs in the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department create the risk of pollution violations, former director Kathleen Leavey said Tuesday.
Department officials defended the restructuring, saying they are confident they can maintain standards with fewer people.
The department laid off about 100 people last week, including about 20 chemists who test the water for pollution standards and dozens of others who work in the Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Detroit River. The department was released from federal oversight in 2013 after being monitored for more than 30 years because of violations of the Clean Water Act.
"When you get rid of these people, how are you going to run the plant?" said Leavey, who worked 16 years in the department, including about 10 as director before retiring in 2009. "There's no plan that detailed who's going to do what. We don't have equipment that is so modern that it can be operated by one person instead of 10."
Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Porter said in a statement that the department won't shortchange pollution compliance.
"The decisions around the optimization of the organization were done with safety and regulatory compliance in mind," Porter said. "The optimization design has broader, more flexible jobs, therefore requiring fewer positions. Job responsibilities are shared to ensure continued compliance."
Interim Director Sue McCormick noted in a report last month that credit rating agencies Moody's and Fitch expressed confidence in the department by upgrading its bond rating recently.
About a dozen union members protested outside the Water Board building Tuesday, including Saulius Simoliunas, an 81-year-old chemist who received a layoff notice after 34 years with the department. He and others test samples of treated water that is released back into the Detroit River to make sure it meets standards that are part of the Clean Water Act.
"The best ones were laid off, and the least senior ones were kept," Simoliunas said. "There are few chemists left, and they are letting them go."
Simoliunas said that the department hopes to save money by sending the samples to private labs for testing, but that the method is too infrequent to get the job done.
Environmental activist Irene Welch was one of the protesters.
"I think it's terrible," she said. "Who is going to be operating these plants? As it is, they are held together with tacks and tape."
Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com
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| Detroit solidarity water march on July 18, 2014. |
October 13, 2015
Water department lays off about 100, including chemists and plant technicians.
Restructuring seeks to reduce employee count and costs.
Great Lakes Water Authority set to take over management of the department.
Layoffs in the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department create the risk of pollution violations, former director Kathleen Leavey said Tuesday.
Department officials defended the restructuring, saying they are confident they can maintain standards with fewer people.
The department laid off about 100 people last week, including about 20 chemists who test the water for pollution standards and dozens of others who work in the Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Detroit River. The department was released from federal oversight in 2013 after being monitored for more than 30 years because of violations of the Clean Water Act.
"When you get rid of these people, how are you going to run the plant?" said Leavey, who worked 16 years in the department, including about 10 as director before retiring in 2009. "There's no plan that detailed who's going to do what. We don't have equipment that is so modern that it can be operated by one person instead of 10."
Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Porter said in a statement that the department won't shortchange pollution compliance.
"The decisions around the optimization of the organization were done with safety and regulatory compliance in mind," Porter said. "The optimization design has broader, more flexible jobs, therefore requiring fewer positions. Job responsibilities are shared to ensure continued compliance."
Interim Director Sue McCormick noted in a report last month that credit rating agencies Moody's and Fitch expressed confidence in the department by upgrading its bond rating recently.
About a dozen union members protested outside the Water Board building Tuesday, including Saulius Simoliunas, an 81-year-old chemist who received a layoff notice after 34 years with the department. He and others test samples of treated water that is released back into the Detroit River to make sure it meets standards that are part of the Clean Water Act.
"The best ones were laid off, and the least senior ones were kept," Simoliunas said. "There are few chemists left, and they are letting them go."
Simoliunas said that the department hopes to save money by sending the samples to private labs for testing, but that the method is too infrequent to get the job done.
Environmental activist Irene Welch was one of the protesters.
"I think it's terrible," she said. "Who is going to be operating these plants? As it is, they are held together with tacks and tape."
Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com
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