The coronavirus sparked a lot of water-related questions and
issues when the pandemic moved into California in 2020.
Below are the latest articles on the topic as they appeared in
our Aquafornia news aggregate.
In California and across the country, household water rates
have been rising as utilities invest to upgrade aging
infrastructure, secure future supplies and meet treatment
standards for clean drinking water. As monthly water bills
continue to increase, growing numbers of customers have been
struggling to pay. New federal legislation would establish a
water assistance program to help low-income families pay their
bills and prevent shutoffs of water service. The bill,
introduced by Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, would make
permanent a federal program that Congress authorized in 2020
during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program provided more than $1
billion in assistance, but it’s expiring.