Associated Press

Officials say about half of residential Detroit water customers facing shutoffs in the past week have taken action to keep service.

Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director Gary Brown tells the Detroit News the department has been putting out 1,000 door hangers daily, alerting customers they have 10 days to take action on unpaid water bills or be cut off.

Central High in Detroit closed because of water pressure issues

Since the process began May 3, Brown says more than 3,000 — or about 50% — of tagged property owners came in and made a payment or enrolled in a plan. Brown says 1,860 had service interrupted, but 85% of them had service restored within 24 hours.

Department officials have estimated that roughly 20,000 customers have defaulted on payments and are subject to having service turned off.