EPA report outlines water affordability challenges, recommendations
January 23, 2025


AWWA Articles
EPA report outlines water affordability challenges, recommendations
As many as 19 million U.S. households may struggle to afford to pay for water and wastewater services, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report recently released to Congress.
The report, “Water Affordability Needs Assessment,” summarizes research conducted by utilities, academics and associations. It uses a new analysis to estimate that between 12.1 million and 19.2 million households may have water service costs that exceed affordability thresholds.
The water services costs exceeding these thresholds are projected at between $5.1 billion to $8.8 billion per year. This estimate is likely to increase moving forward as it is based on historic rates and does not account for added costs related to infrastructure upgrades, new regulations or other items. The estimate also does not assess the total currently available assistance that may address some of the overall need.
EPA hosted stakeholder listening sessions in 2024 with water associations and utilities, including the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and several of its member utilities, as well as with academia, nonprofits, community-based organizations, advocacy groups and the public. Participants were invited to share their experiences, perspectives and ideas to address the widespread and growing issue of unaffordable water bills.
The report highlights EPA’s analysis of water affordability challenges to both U.S. communities and utilities.
“When households are unable to pay their water bills, service disconnections can have impacts that include public health concerns, economic instability, social inequality, and psychological and psychosocial stress,” the report states. “Water utilities, meanwhile, are working to meet rising costs for operations and maintenance, upgrading aging infrastructure, and protecting public health and the environment, while facing difficult decisions about raising rates – often with the possible consequence of taking on substantial financial risk.”
The report provides the following suggestions to address the issue of water affordability:
- Establish a federal water customer assistance program
- Increase education, outreach and knowledge around solutions to address affordability
- Increase ways to reduce water infrastructure capital and operating costs
More information about water affordability is on AWWA’s affordability resource page. Questions can be directed to Adam Carpenter, AWWA’s manager of energy and environmental policy.
Advertisement