Water rights is the theme of a series of events sponsored by southeast Michigan environmental and social justice groups that kicked off during the East Michigan Environmental Action Council's annual event May 9 with a trailer for the upcoming documentary Water Warriors-the tale of Highland Park's water crisis.

The evening started with powerful, environmentally themed hip hop poetry from Detroit's William Copeland, followed by the movie trailer and another water documentary, Thirst. The evening ended in a lively audience discussion moderated by journalist Jack Lessenberry.

Environmental and social organizations across the Detroit area feel a need for the series because of the many communities across Michigan confronting water pollution, shortage, diversion and rate issues:

• In Highland Park, thousands of residents are experiencing home water shut-offs, and many are losing their homes when the skyrocketing water rates are attached to their property taxes;
• Mecosta County's ground water is being siphoned and sold by Nestle; and
• Monroe County residents must ship in water because their water supply has been contaminated by quarry operations.
  

When water is treated less as a valuable natural resource and more as a marketable commodity, it threatens everyone's access to clean water. At the May 9 event, those threats were explored during the audience discussion at the end of the night: "For the past several years, we've been telling people that thousands of Detroit and Highland Park residents have been living without water, but no one seems to care," said Sylvia Orduño, explaining her city's plight. "We need help with stopping the shut-offs and implementing a water affordability plan. Like the residents of Stockton spoke of in Thirst, if we don't do something to protect our municipal water department, it's going to be privatized."

Lynna Kaucheck, of Clean Water Action, said she was excited to be a part of the event. "Participants were anxious to know what they could do, and although I made a lot of letter writing fliers to distribute, I got rid of them all, and I had to search for my personal copies to distribute."

The evening's spirit was collaborative. The tone was set by the sponsoring organizations, a surprisingly mixed group of environmental and social organizations from Wayne, Oakland and Washtenaw Counties, including Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), East Michigan Environmental Action Council, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, Detroit Audubon Society, Ecology Center, Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan Welfare Rights and the Sierra Club. By the end of the evening, residents were eager to learn more about happenings in other parts of the metro area and what they could do to help.

Sadly, the heroine of the Water Warriors documentary, Vallory Johnson, passed away days after the showing of the trailer. "Vallory loved beautiful things," said a speaker who offered a simple testimony given during her eulogy May 18 at the Healing Springs Baptist Church. "She felt that money should not make a difference in the ability to enjoy the necessities of life and to access our human rights."