March 28, 2020
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease that can result in serious illness or death. It is caused by a new strain of coronavirus not previously identified in humans and easily spread from person to person. There is currently no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment for this disease.
On March 10, 2020, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services identified the first two presumptive-positive cases of COVID-19 in Michigan. On that same day, I issued Executive Order 2020-4. This order declared a state of emergency across the state of Michigan under section 1 of article 5 of the Michigan Constitution of 1963, the Emergency Management Act, 1976 PA 390, as amended, MCL 30.401-.421, and the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945, 1945 PA 302, as amended, MCL 10.31-.33.
The Emergency Management Act vests the governor with broad powers and duties to “cop[e] with dangers to this state or the people of this state presented by a disaster or emergency,” which the governor may implement through “executive orders, proclamations, and directives having the force and effect of law.” MCL 30.403(1)-(2). Similarly, the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945 provides that, after declaring a state of emergency, “the governor may promulgate reasonable orders, rules, and regulations as he or she considers necessary to protect life and property or to bring the emergency situation within the affected area under control.” MCL 10.31(1).
To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, protect the public health, and avoid needless deaths, it is crucial that all Michiganders remain in their homes or residences to the greatest extent possible and wash their hands thoroughly and regularly. Now more than ever, the provision of clean water to residences is essential to human health and hygiene, and to the public health and safety of this state. Correspondingly, many water utilities have already suspended water shutoffs during this difficult time. Due to the vital need to ensure that Michigan residents have access to clean water at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is reasonable and necessary to require the restoration of clean water to residences across the State of Michigan throughout this state of emergency. And because it is also vitally important for state government to have up-to-date and accurate information regarding access to clean water, it is reasonable and necessary to require public water supplies to report on the status of water service within their respective service areas.
Acting under the Michigan Constitution of 1963 and Michigan law, I order the following:
(a) An account of what efforts have been made to determine which occupied residences within the public water supply’s service area do not have water service.
(b) The number of occupied residences within the public water supply’s service area that do not have water service as a result of a shutoff due to non-payment.
(c) The number of occupied residences within the public water supply’s service area that do not have water service as a result of any reason other than non-payment.
(d) A certification, if true, that best efforts have been exercised to determine which occupied residences within the service area do not have water service; that, to the best of the public water supply’s knowledge, no occupied residences have their water service shut off due to non-payment; that the public water supply has reconnected water service for all occupied residences that can be reconnected without creating a risk to public health; and that the public water supply has exercised best efforts to remedy the conditions that prevent reconnection due to a risk to public health.
Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the State of Michigan.
Click to view the full PDF of the executive order.
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