As we head into the cold winter months, many Detroit families are preparing for mounting household expenses, like groceries, electricity and water bills.

To help, Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department is rolling out a scaled-back version of its current water affordability program, designed to offer relief for low-income residents.

"It uses outside funding, either regional, state, or federal dollars, to pay the difference between the actual water, sewer, and drainage charges in the fixed bill amount that we provide, and we wanted that program to continue," said Detroit Water and Sewerage Department spokesperson Bryan Peckinpaugh.

Known as Lifeline H2O, approved applicants can receive a fixed water bill of $34 a month, as long as they don't have a past due balance.

To qualify, eligible households must meet the income requirements and have an annual household income at or below $53,300 a year for a family of three.

"We had to update the program so that we could still help thousands of households and change the fixed rate to make it more efficient, to one tier from three tiers, in order to have this program still available for Detroit residents," said Peckinpaugh.

Peckinpaugh says the change came after most of the federal money used to fund the original lifeline plan ran out.

"When we found out this summer that our funding would decrease and that we wouldn't receive funding from the federal government, like we have in the past, as well as limited state funding, we looked at how we could revamp the program to still help," said Peckinpaugh.

More than 5,000 families are expected to benefit from the program, and applications are currently being reviewed.

For interested customers with outstanding balances, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's Easy Pay program can help get them up to date and eligible to apply. If you would like to learn more or apply, visit online or call 313-435-2055.