Jared Huffman: Support is needed to help pay water bills

State residents have been struggling to keep up with their water bills during the COVID-19 pandemic, but government officials say help is on the way.

Survey results from the State Water Resources Control Board released in late January estimate about 1.6 million or 12% of households across the state have not paid their water bills resulting in an estimated $1 billion in statewide household water debt. The average household debt is $500.

North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman issued a news release stating the American Rescue Plan, making its way through the House of Representatives once again to incorporate Senate changes, includes a “one-time federal allocation for water assistance,” but ongoing relief is needed.

“Over the past year water has proven to be a critical resource during the pandemic — it’s needed to wash hands, cook meals, and countless other day-to-day necessities,” Huffman said in a statement. “With more families staying home and an increase in personal water usage, households in California and across the country are getting buried in debt. Congress must provide funding for water affordability assistance nationwide. In order to have an equitable recovery from this pandemic, we have to ensure everyone has equal access to clean, affordable water.”

Huffman and other Congressional Democrats from the state penned a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stating the amount allocated for the entire country was far below what was needed in just California.

“This level of need dwarfs the entirety of the one-time December 2020 federal allocation of $638 million for water affordability assistance nationwide, of which California is likely to receive only $70 million,” the letter states.

While household water debt is an issue, the state and local municipalities issued emergency orders at the start of the pandemic preventing utility shutoffs for nonpayment.

In Eureka, City Manager Miles Slattery said there wasn’t much of an increase in the number of people that were delinquent in paying their water bills; most of those people were struggling to pay their water bills before the start of the pandemic.

“We have seen some commercial and residential become delinquent, but we’re not doing shutoffs,” Slattery said, adding that will be the case until the pandemic ends.

“That should be up and running soon,” Slattery said. “We’re hoping to get the go-ahead to start that program and allow for people to apply for money to pay their utilities.”

For areas lying just outside of Eureka city limits, Terrence Williams, general manager of the Humboldt Community Services District, said there are currently three times as many delinquent utility payments as is typical.

“That is not a great situation for the district, but it’s not as bad as other districts,” Williams said.

The primary contributor to that is being unable to disconnect households’ water service when they fail to make payments, Williams said.

“Once the order is lifted, we will be able to go back to these customers who have high balances and we will have some enforcement mechanisms like being able to turn off their water service,” Williams said.

However, Williams said some of the people who are failing to pay their water bills are likely unable to pay their mortgages, so the water district will still be left holding the bag if those residents face foreclosure.

It’s hard to predict what kind of assistance will actually come down from the state, but Williams said an economic stimulus package that would assist with the back payments would be helpful to both the district and the customers unable to pay.

“If you do live in the district and you have a back balance, please come in and work with us,” Williams said. “We’re happy to figure out a payment plan or some other way to help you pay your bill.”

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