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A Burgeoning Crisis? A Nationwide Assessment of the Geography of Water Affordability in the United States

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  • Elizabeth A Mack
  • Sarah Wrase

Abstract

While basic access to clean water is critical, another important issue is the affordability of water access for people around the globe. Prior international work has highlighted that a large proportion of consumers could not afford water if priced at full cost recovery levels. Given growing concern about affordability issues due to rising water rates, and a comparative lack of work on affordability in the developed world, as compared to the developing world, more work is needed in developed countries to understand the extent of this issue in terms of the number of households and persons impacted. To address this need, this paper assesses potential affordability issues for households in the United States using the U.S. EPA’s 4.5% affordability criteria for combined water and wastewater services. Analytical results from this paper highlight high-risk and at-risk households for water poverty or unaffordable water services. Many of these households are clustered in pockets of water poverty within counties, which is a concern for individual utility providers servicing a large proportion of customers with a financial inability to pay for water services. Results also highlight that while water rates remain comparatively affordable for many U.S. households, this trend will not continue in the future. If water rates rise at projected amounts over the next five years, conservative projections estimate that the percentage of U.S. households who will find water bills unaffordable could triple from 11.9% to 35.6%. This is a concern due to the cascading economic impacts associated with widespread affordability issues; these issues mean that utility providers could have fewer customers over which to spread the large fixed costs of water service. Unaffordable water bills also impact customers for whom water services are affordable via higher water rates to recover the costs of services that go unpaid by lower income households.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth A Mack & Sarah Wrase, 2017. "A Burgeoning Crisis? A Nationwide Assessment of the Geography of Water Affordability in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0169488
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169488
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. REYNAUD Arnaud, 2006. "Assessing the impact of public regulation and private participation on water affordability for poor households: An empirical investigation of the French case," LERNA Working Papers 06.09.202, LERNA, University of Toulouse.
    2. John W. Sawkins & Valerie A. Dickie, 2005. "Affordability of household water and sewerage services in Great Britain," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 225-244, June.
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    2. López-Ruiz, Samara & Tortajada, Cecilia & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2020. "Is the human right to water sufficiently protected in Spain? Affordability and governance concerns," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Tihitina Andarge & Yongjie Ji & Bonnie L. Keeler & David A. Keiser & Conor McKenzie, 2023. "Environmental Justice and the Clean Water Act: Implications for Economic Analyses of Clean Water Regulations," NBER Chapters, in: Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, volume 5, pages 70-126, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Oleg O. Smirnov, 2023. "Assessment of the Impact of Transparency and Affordability of Technological Connection on the Developer's Decision on New Construction in Russian Cities," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 22(2), pages 355-380.
    5. Beard, Victoria A. & Mitlin, Diana, 2021. "Water access in global South cities: The challenges of intermittency and affordability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    6. Solis, Miriam & Bashar, Samira Binte, 2022. "Social equity implications of advanced water metering infrastructure," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Elham Erfanian & Alan R. Collins, 2018. "Charges for Water and Access: What Explains the Differences Among West Virginian Municipalities?," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(04), pages 1-27, October.
    8. Pan, Zehua & Brouwer, Roy & Emelko, Monica B., 2022. "Correlating forested green infrastructure to water rates and adverse water quality incidents: A spatial instrumental variable regression model," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    9. Melissa Heil, 2023. "The politics of owing: Accounting, water disconnection, and austerity urbanism in Detroit," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(3), pages 485-503, May.
    10. Smith, Steven M., 2022. "The effects of individualized water rates on use and equity," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    11. Zhang, Xue & Rivas, Marcela Gonzalez & Grant, Mary & Warner, Mildred E., 2021. "Water Pricing and Affordability in the US: Public vs Private Ownership," SocArXiv 7mc4r, Center for Open Science.
    12. Natalie R. Sampson & Carmel E. Price & Julia Kassem & Jessica Doan & Janine Hussein, 2018. "“We’re Just Sitting Ducks”: Recurrent Household Flooding as An Underreported Environmental Health Threat in Detroit’s Changing Climate," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Martinez-Espiñeira, Roberto & Pérez Urdiales, María, 2024. "Water Affordability Measures Under Multiple and Non-Exclusive Sources in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13395, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Thabang Lazarus Bambo & Anastassios Pouris, 2020. "Bibliometric analysis of bioeconomy research in South Africa," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 29-51, October.

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