EPA Releases Water Affordability Needs Assessment
On December 17th, EPA released its Water Affordability Needs Assessment. Highlights from the Assessment include:
- Between 12.1 million and 19.2 million U.S. households lack access to affordable water services.
- Nationally, the cost of unaffordable water service bills ranges from $5.1 billion to $8.8 billion.
Options to reduce unaffordable access to water include:
- Establishing a Federal Water Assistance Program
- Increasing Education, Outreach and Knowledge Around Solutions to Address Affordability
- Increasing Ways to Reduce Water Infrastructure Capital and Operating Costs
The above potential options include funding for a federal low-income water assistance program, which EPA estimates the range of cost to fund the pilot program authorized in IIJA Section 50109 to be between $115 million and $185 million per year.
EPA is hosting a webinar on the Assessment on January 9th at 1:00 pm (Eastern). Click here to register.
