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Unpaid water bills a “pending disaster” the state is trying to head off
• by Lois Henry
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the state issued a moratorium on drinking water shutoffs for nonpayment. But those bills will come due. PHOTO CREDIT: Lois Henry
If the state has any hope of heading off a looming “tidal wave” of residential water shut offs and bankrupt water systems it has to get a picture of current impacts, advocates urged.
Right now, the state doesn’t even have a blurry sketch.
Which is why the State Water Resources Control Board directed staff on Tuesday to begin a survey of California’s nearly 3,000 community water systems to ascertain two things: How water systems are doing financially; and how far behind water customers are on their bills because of COVID-19 job losses and illness.
The board stopped short of forcing water systems to report that information, however.
Lois Henry
Maven's Notebook is an excellent daily accounting of California water happenings statewide.
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