Water and wastewater services are already unaffordable for an estimated 12 to 19 million US households. Climate disasters such as floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme temperatures place added financial pressure on water systems, driving the cost of these fundamental services even higher. Frontline communities that are already overburdened and underresourced are the most likely to feel the impact of rising costs on their water bills.  

This report introduces a new framework, the Water Affordability-Climate Disaster Feedback Loop, to explain how climate disasters can trigger a self-reinforcing cycle. Disasters damage water systems, utilities raise rates to cover repairs, households fall behind or lose service, and the lost revenue leaves utilities less able to maintain and staff their systems, making them more vulnerable to the next disaster. The report also outlines strategies to disrupt the loop and identifies the work still needed to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable water and sanitation for all.

1. Water and wastewater services are already unaffordable for an estimated 12 to 19 million US households, and climate disasters can make it worse by triggering a self-reinforcing feedback loop in which damaged water systems drive up bills, households fall behind or lose service, and lost revenue leaves water systems more vulnerable to the next disaster. 

2. Disaster costs are already reaching households, from a roughly 12% rate increase in Jackson, Mississippi, where flooding compounded decades of deferred maintenance, to a $3,000 per-household charge from a water company whose reservoirs were destroyed in the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County.  

3. The most severe impacts fall on frontline communities that are already overburdened and underresourced, and on low-income households that have less ability to reduce their water use when rates rise. 

4. The feedback loop is not inevitable, and strategies from disaster preparedness to equitable rate design and shutoff protections can disrupt it, especially when affordability is built into climate adaptation from the start. 

5. Currently, research linking climate change to household water bills is largely focused on drought, and little has been documented about how floods, wildfires, and extreme temperatures affect water affordability. 

1. Feasibility and Applicability of Leading and Innovative Utility-Led Water Affordability Efforts 

2. Advancing Affordability through Water Efficiency 

3. Drought and Equity in California