EPIC Featured: 40 Years After Congress Changed the Game for Energy Bills, Water Finally Plays Catch Up

Sri Vedachalam, Director of Water at EPIC, is featured in a recent article on water bills and affordability:

The relief comes not a moment too soon, according to Sridhar Vedachalam at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center and author of the recent report H2Affordability: How Water Bill Assistance Programs Miss the Mark. His research estimates that water and sewer costs have more than doubled since 2000, a rate well above inflation that exceeds other household budget line items like rent, gas, and electricity. These bills now account for an average of 10 percent of monthly income for the lowest 20 percent of income earners in the U.S.

“Freshwater is cheap, especially in the East, but the infrastructure is expensive,” Vedachalam explains. “Federal water funding, especially for wastewater, has consistently declined and the expectation is that states and local municipalities would assume most of the burden. Customers are taking on the vast majority of that cost, up to 95%. As a result, water is expensive as a commodity.”