… As utilities cope with weather extremes by scrambling to repair their infrastructure and tapping new water sources, the cost is beginning to show up in residents’ bills. Between 1998 and 2020, the average cost of water, sewer and trash collection services increased more than twice as much as the overall U.S. consumer price index. … Longer and more intense droughts have triggered restrictions on water use from Florida to Colorado. … Water has long been one of the most affordable utility bills for American households. … But climate change is increasingly battering utilities with weather — and costs — they did not plan for. … Amid a decades-long megadrought that has diminished aquifers and caused a catastrophic decline in river flows, residents of Southern California have seen rate increases of up to 17 percent over the past two years. 

Other drought impact news around the West:

• The Colorado Sun (Denver): Climate change starts a new clock on Colorado’s river runoff, study says  
• The Aspen Times (Colo.): Colorado water managers stress water conservation as the mountains sit in the ‘nasty bullseye’ of widespread drought​
• Aspen Public Radio (Colo.): Record low snowpack and ongoing drought mean big concerns for Colorado agriculture
• KSL (Salt Lake City): Utah increases fishing limits at 2 reservoirs affected by subpar snowpack
• The Nevada Independent: State punts plan to curtail water in Nevada’s largest river basin amid severe drought
• FOX Weather: Video: Farmers battle drought conditions this spring