Hydration Is a Basic Human Need: Why National Hydration Day Should Spark Action on Water Affordability

Every year on National Hydration Day, we’re reminded of something simple but essential: our bodies and our communities depend on water. Hydration keeps our hearts pumping, our minds sharp, and our bodies functioning. It fuels learning in our classrooms, productivity in our workplaces, and resilience in our neighborhoods.

But for too many families, staying hydrated isn’t as simple as filling a glass at the tap. Many Michigan families lack reliable access to clean, safe, and affordable water.

The Importance of Hydration

Water is foundational to life. It regulates body temperature, supports brain function, aids digestion, and helps prevent illness. For children, proper hydration is directly linked to focus, behavior, and academic performance. For seniors, it can prevent serious health complications. And for all of us, it’s one of the most effective and accessible tools for maintaining overall health. And frankly, we cannot live without it.

From a public health perspective, hydration is prevention. When people have reliable access to safe, affordable water, they are more likely to drink it, cook with it, and maintain basic hygiene. This reduces the spread of disease, supports child development, and strengthens community well-being.

When Water Isn’t Affordable

Yet across Michigan, families are making impossible choices between paying their water bill and covering other basic needs like rent, groceries, or medication. Water rates have risen by 400% in some places over the years, while wages for many households have not kept pace.

When water becomes unaffordable, the consequences ripple outward:

• Families may ration water, impacting hygiene and health

• Children may come to school tired, sick, or unable to focus

• Households face shutoffs, risking children being removed, families being displaced, and housing instability

• Communities experience greater public health challenges and inequities

Access to water should never depend on your zip code or income level.

Why We Need a Statewide Water Affordability Program

The Affordable Water Now legislative package (House Bills 4555, 5170-5173), introduced by Reps. Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield Township), Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing), Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City), Jimmie Wilson (D-Ypsilanti), and myself, Cynthia Neeley (D-Flint), is a practical, proven solution to this growing crisis. This legislative package would create the first statewide water affordability program that would: 

• Provide income-based water billing: this approach adjusts water bills using a sliding scale relative to the federal poverty level and household income, ensuring water costs are manageable and everyone pays their fair share

• Debt forgiveness: offers debt forgiveness for customers who keep up with their adjusted water bill, alleviating financial stress on households

• Prevent water shutoffs: keep water flowing from taps, ensuring hydration and good hygiene 

• Support public health: reducing costs associated with preventable illness

• Create stability for utilities: helping ensure consistent payment and system sustainability

• Advance equity: addressing long-standing disparities in access to basic services

Water affordability programs aren’t just about helping individuals; they strengthen entire communities.

A Call to Action

On this National Hydration Day, let’s expand the conversation beyond reusable water bottles and daily intake goals. Let’s recognize that hydration is not just a personal responsibility—it’s a public good.

Everyone deserves the dignity of turning on their tap and knowing clean, safe, affordable water will be there.

Ensuring that access requires more than awareness, it requires action. A statewide water affordability program is one of the most impactful steps we can take to protect public health, support families, and build a more just and resilient future.

Please take action today, by contacting your legislators NOW and tell them to support and pass the Affordable Water Now legislative package.