17 Percent of U.S. Households Face Growing Water Affordability Challenge
“Safe, reliable water services are essential for everyone to thrive, but a substantial number of Americans may be finding them difficult to afford,” said lead author Lauren Patterson, senior fellow at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. “When costs rise faster than incomes, it strains the budgets of a wide swath of U.S. households already struggling to make ends meet, as well as utilities trying to adequately serve their customers."
In discussing the policy implications of their analysis, the authors write that utility customer assistance programs and other safety net measures are critical to immediately help households unable to pay their bills. Over the longer term, however, the diverse factors that have led to higher utility costs and income inequality “will require approaches that incorporate finance, governance, equity and span from the local to the state and federal scale.”