Survey Results Show COVID-19 Financial Impact On Water Systems, Customers

Public water systems throughout California are facing heightened financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, as about 1.6 million residential water customers, or 12% of all households, have been unable to pay their bills, according to the State Water Resources Control Board’s comprehensive survey. The results of the survey were presented to the board at a recent meeting and are available to the public online. The survey requested information from a statistically significant sample of 510 small- to medium-sized water systems (fewer than 10,000 service connections) and 150 large systems (more than 10,000 service connections). The water systems sampled provide service to 70%