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1. An Experiment in Making Water Affordable: Philadelphia’s Tiered Assistance Program (TAP)

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12830  

   Mack, Elizabeth A.; Wrase, Sarah; Dahme, Joanne; Crosby, Susan M.; Davis, Martha; Wright, Melody; Muhammad, Ravonne (March 2020, JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association)

   Abstract The ability to pay for water and wastewater services is a growing issue in the developed world. To this point in time, utilities have helped customers grappling with affordability issues using different types of customer assistance programs (CAPs). Income‐based billing approaches differ from CAPs in that bills are structured so as to be affordable for customers at the outset. Recently, the City of Philadelphia implemented an innovative program to work towards resolving the affordability problem in their city using income‐based billing. This tiered assistance program or TAP structures bills for water, wastewater, and stormwater services to program enrollees’ income. Given the innovative nature of the program, this paper describes the rollout of TAP and assesses the impact of the program on customers and utility revenues. The paper closes with a critical assessment of TAP and considerations for utilities evaluating the implementation of similar programs. 

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2. The high health risks of unaffordable water: An in-depth exploration of pathways from water bill burden to health-related impacts in the United States

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000077  

   Sarango, Mariana; Senier, Laura; Harlan, Sharon L. (March 2023, PLOS Water)

   Winkler, Inga T. (Ed.)

   Access to clean and safe water is essential for human health and well-being, but recent and substantial increases in the cost of water for residential customers in the United States endanger the health of those who cannot afford to pay. This study identifies pathways through which unaffordable water bills may influence the behaviors and health of vulnerable people. We interviewed a sample of low-income residential water customers who were experiencing water bill hardship in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S. between October 2018 and December 2019. We conducted a thematic content analysis of interview transcripts. Results showed that some participants improvised ways to pay their water bills, and some confronted obstacles that made it simply impossible to pay at times. Behavioral responses to coping with high water bills were influenced by household earning potential, self-reported health status, caretaking responsibilities, and accessibility of utility assistance programs. Consequences of unaffordable household bills included reduced access to other necessities, debt accumulation, risk of water shutoff, housing insecurity, and public humiliation. Reported health-related impacts of water bill hardship were food insecurity, underutilization of healthcare and medications, and decline in mental health. Comprehensive reforms at all levels of government are needed to make water affordable for all low-income households. Federal investments in water infrastructure, state oversight of affordability and human rights, as well as municipal tiered water pricing and comprehensive assistance policies for low-income households are needed to address the growing water affordability crisis and to mitigate harm to the well-being of vulnerable residents and communities in the United States. 

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3. Water affordability and human right to water implications in California

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245237  

   Goddard, Jessica J.; Ray, Isha; Balazs, Carolina (January 2021, PLOS ONE)

   Thet Wai, Khin (Ed.)

   Water affordability is central to water access but remains a challenge to measure. California enshrined the human right to safe and affordable water in 2012 but the question remains: how should water affordability be measured across the state? This paper contributes to this question in three steps. First, we identify key dimensions of water affordability measures (including scale, volume of water needed to meet ‘basic’ needs, and affordability criteria) and a cross-cutting theme (social equity). Second, using these dimensions, we develop three affordability ratios measured at the water system scale for households with median, poverty level, and deep poverty (i.e., half the poverty level) incomes and estimate the corresponding percentage of households at these income levels. Using multiple measures conveys a fuller picture of affordability given the known limitations of specific affordability measures. Third, we analyze our results disaggregated by a key characteristic of water system vulnerability–water system size. We find that water is relatively affordable for median income households. However, we identify high unaffordability for households in poverty in a large fraction of water systems. We identify several scenarios with different policy implications for the human right to water, such as very small systems with high water bills and low-income households within large water systems. We also characterize how data gaps complicate theoretical ideals and present barriers in human right to water monitoring efforts. This paper presents a systematic approach to measuring affordability and represents the first statewide assessment of water affordability within California’s community water systems. 

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4. LEGITIMIZATION OF TECHNICAL PROCESS AND UNDERSTANDING UTILITIES’ ROLE IN URBAN EMERGENCY RESPONSE FOR DISPLACED PERSONS

   Hacker, Miriam; Kaminsky, Jessica; Faust, Kasey (June 2017, 15th Engineering Project Organization Conference)

   This paper presents employee perspectives from two German water and wastewater utilities regarding their involvement in providing water and wastewater services for displaced persons in urban emergency accommodations. In 2015, 28 European countries received over two million applications for asylum, almost three times more than the previous year. According to the UNHCR, this rapid increase in population has reached the highest recorded displacement in the world’s history, even greater than that proceeding the Second World War. The German utilities are meeting these new demands; however, we lack knowledge regarding the impacts on the utilities as they provide water and wastewater services to the suddenly increased population. As a result of this gap, this study looks at how water and wastewater utilities perceive their involvement in this process and in what ways they legitimize their provision of water and wastewater services to displaced persons. Understanding this legitimation equips both utilities and other stakeholders to better understand how utilities regard their role in urban emergency response. Results show that individuals use their past experience (comprehensibility legitimacy) and understanding of socially acceptable technical processes (procedural legitimacy) to legitimize their role in the crisis organization. Comprehensibility legitimacy is used to express certainty in managing the technical challenges of providing water and wastewater services, while procedural legitimacy is used to justify improvisation to navigate gaps in design and construction guidelines for water and wastewater connections. Implications of this study suggest that although employees are confident in their ability to handle the situation, there are also opportunities for improving response in the future, such as creating more technical guidance for design water and wastewater connections for displaced persons in renovated buildings and new developments. 

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5. From Intermittent to Continuous Water Supply: A Household-level Evaluation of Water System Reforms in Hubli–Dharwad

   Ray, Isha; Billavi, N.; Burt, Z.; Colford, JM Jr.; Ercümen, A.; Jayaramu, KP; Kumpel, E.; Nayak, N.; Nelson, KL; Woelfle-Erskine, C. (January 2018, Economic and political weekly)

   Employing a matched cohort research design, eight wards with intermittent water supply are compared to eight wards upgraded to continuous (24 x 7) supply in a demonstration project in Hubli–Dharwad, Karnataka, with respect to tap water quality, child health, water storage practices, and coping costs across socio-economic strata. Water consumption and waste in the intermittent zones, and the potential for scale-up of continuous supply to the entire city, are estimated. It was found that the 24 x 7 project improved water quality, did not improve overall child health, but did reduce serious waterborne illnesses in the lowest-income strata, reduced the costs of waiting, increased monthly water bills, and potentially reduced water security for some of the poorest households. 

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