Many of the details remain unknown - there is no information on how many low-income Californians are eligible for water rate assistance or how much they would receive. Renters and others in multifamily buildings with no individual water meters won’t be included.Īnd a major hurdle remains - funding. “A program of this scale, run by the state or the feds - this would be unique,” he said. The program would be the only one of its kind in the country, said Greg Pierce, director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, who has consulted on water affordability for state regulators. About half a million account holders had their water shut off for unpaid bills in 2019, according to state data.Ĭalifornia lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Monday and Tuesday to offer assistance: A bill that creates a new state program to help low-income Californians like Díaz pay their water and sewage bills is now expected to be sent to Gov. Latino and Black communities have been hit the hardest, with higher average debt. By September 2021, nearly 650,000 residential and 46,000 business accounts owed more than $315 million in unpaid water and wastewater bills. María Dolores Díaz sighs when she opens her water bill every month because she knows what she’ll see: another bill that she’ll struggle to pay.ĭiaz looks at the envelope and doesn’t want to open it because she wonders: How much, this time? “Ya nomás miro la carta y ‘aí ya no lo quiero abrir!’ Porque yo digo ‘¿ahora cuánto?’”Ĭalifornia’s water affordability crisis has been simmering for years as water rate increases have outpaced inflation, rising 45% between 20 alone.

In his veto statement, Newsom said “lowering costs and making sure that Californians have access to safe and affordable drinking water is a top priority,” but he added that the bill has “no sustainable, ongoing funding identified.”

As tens of thousands of low-income Californians struggle to pay their water bills, the Legislature approved a bill offering assistance.

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