The Great Lakes Water Authority was created in the fall of 2014 under a United States bankruptcy court order issued as part of the City of Detroit bankruptcy proceedings. The Detroit City Council voted to join the authority in September 2014 by a 7–2 vote, and the county commissions of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties voted to join in October 2014. The first meeting of the GLWA board was held on December 12, 2014. The 40-year lease deal was approved on June 12, 2015, by a 5–1 vote of the Great Lakes Water Authority board, marking a historic regionalization of water control hailed by Detroit MayorMike Duggan. The assumption of much of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's operations by the Great Lakes Water Authority will allow Detroit to fund improvements to Detroit's aging water infrastructure, such as repairs to old treatment facilities and leaking pipes. The lease payments to Detroit must be used for water purposes, and cannot be diverted to the general fund. The deal allows DWSD's workforce to be reduced from around 1,400 to around 500. The Great Lakes Water Authority will have about 900 employees. In October 2015, following a nationwide search, Sue McCormick, the director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, was named the first chief executive officer of the Great Lakes Water Authority. GLWA formally assumed operations from the DWSD on January 1, 2016. The GLWA also assumed $4 billion of DWSD's debt. The assumption of Detroit's operations and debt is under a 40-year lease that GLWA has over the City of Detroit's water system. The lease agreement was brokered in secret mediation by U.S. District Judge Sean Cox and required "lengthy and contentious negotiations" between Detroit and suburban Detroit leaders, who feared any prospect of bailing out Detroit's water system. Under the agreement, the authority will pay the City "$50 million a year plus about $50 million a year toward pension costs and a fund to help struggling customers" in exchange for the city's water system.
Governance
The GLWA is led by a board of directors. It consists of two representatives of the City of Detroit and one representative each from Oakland County, Macomb County, Wayne County, and the State of Michigan. The Detroit representatives are appointed by the mayor, the county representatives are appointed by their respective counties, and the state representative is appointed by the governor. The governor's appointee is intended to represent users of the water authority's services outside Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne, such as users in Washtenaw, Genesee, and Monroe counties.
Services
The authority provides water and sewer services to almost four million customers from about 125 Michigan communities in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and other counties. About 75% of the authority's customers live in the suburbs, with the rest living in Detroit. The authority has not yet set water rates, although it aims to determine rates by March 2016 and make them effective by July 1, 2016. Annual rate increases will be capped at four percent for the first ten years of the authority's existence.
