What low-income households pay for essential service in the United States This post reports findings from 2017; an update for 2019 is available here. Over the past 18 months I’ve been working to
During California’s recent drought, the utilities that own their supply sources conserved more than the those that purchase water from wholesale suppliers -Warning: this post contains hardcore wonkery- A while ago I blogged about my
Another way in which it’s tough to be poor Better with more money Drinking water utilities are great, but they aren’t perfect. Sometimes there are problems. Do those problems occur randomly? Or are there
Sometimes progress is visible in what you don’t see Earlier this week I had the pleasure of speaking to the annual conference of the California Water Association, an organization of that state’s investor-owned water
Some observations about the new law & what it tells us about the politics of water infrastructure in America Here's looking at you, America The Senate recently passed the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA)
Gender predicts concern for water utility issues coliform contamination would make this way less romantic Do men and women think differently about their water utilities? In a recent post I wrote about some findings
How utility people—and everybody else—think about water issues Where's your head at? Each year the American Water Works Association (AWWA) conducts a survey of its members on the State of the Water Industry (SOTWI).
Why rate structures, not assistance programs, offer the most promising path to water affordability yeah this stinks kid, but it beats smallpox When discussions of water and sewer affordability turn to policy solutions, they
Bad water boys, whatchya gonna do when they come for you? Many California communities restricted outdoor irrigation during the recent drought. Did enforcement matter? Faced with water scarcity, communities sometimes restrict residential outdoor water use,
Remarks from the opening plenary session of the AWWA/WEF Transformative Issues Symposium Earlier this week the American Water Works Association and Water Environment Federation hosted their first-ever Transformative Issues Symposium, a two-day meeting focused on
Social science and defying the choice between clean and affordable water Warning: sports cliché coming. Boxing is more popular as a literary metaphor than as a spectator sport these days. Still, I’m a
A California Surprise, Part 3 California’s private utilities continued to out-conserve public utilities even after the state lifted its mandate. In 2015 the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) ordered drinking water utilities
A California Surprise, Part 2 More drought porn (this is used to be Folsom Lake) How private implementation separates public policies from their political costs. Warning: this post contains hardcore wonkery. In 2015 the
A California surprise, Part I Drought porn Something unexpected happened when California ordered its utilities to save water: the state’s investor-owned private utilities out-conserved local governments. California’s long-term drought began as early as 2007,
This guy measures water affordability as (Avg bill ÷ MHI)<2.0% Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad measurement, part 4 My criticism of average bill ÷ Median Household Income (MHI) as a measure of household-level
Not actually in the book of Numbers Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad measurement, part 3 As my last couple of posts explain, the conventional method of measuring household-level water affordability is to divide
Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad measurement, part 2 As my last post explained, the conventional method of measuring household-level water affordability is to divide a utility’s average residential bill by its community’s Median
This officer is not trying to measure statewide alcohol sales A feral howl on the conventional method of assessing household water affordability, part 1 Recently a colleague asked me how I first got interested
Why water utility service can be simultaneously underpriced and unaffordable Analysis of water and sewer affordability implies a concern that the prices of these critical services might be too high. At the same time,
hyperopia (hīˌpə-rōˈpē-ə). n. A condition in which visual images come to a focus behind the retina of the eye and vision is better for distant than for near objects Last week I had the pleasure of
On the proliferation of water conferences I like conferences. That’s a good thing, because academics attend a lot of conferences. The conference circuit is especially busy for those of us who do significant interdisciplinary
What California’s SB-623 reveals about water affordability and the politics of public finance Who shall pay? is the perennially vexing refrain for would-be providers of public goods. Everyone likes nice things; no one likes
The case for rate-funded water affordability Warning: this post contains hardcore wonkery. One of the most trenchant questions that emerged during the recent California State Water Resources Control Board affordability symposium (pursuant to California
Can declaring a human right to water help address affordability? Something extraordinary is unfolding in California. In 2012, to great fanfare, California governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 685, which amended the
This is the fourth in my series of posts on the recently released White House infrastructure plan. Release of the White House infrastructure plan triggered a flurry of news about the nation’s ports, dams,
This is the third in my series of posts on the recently released White House infrastructure plan. One of the most remarkable things about the White House plan is that water is a big
The City of Jacksonville, FL is contemplating sale of JEA, its municipal electric, water, and sewer utility. For years Jacksonville has toyed with the idea of selling JEA to a private investor, but the possibility
This is the second in my series of posts on the recently released White House infrastructure plan. We’re at a strange point in America’s fiscal history. Cash on corporate ledgers is high, bond rates
The growing national attention to public infrastructure in the United States has been gratifying to those of us who have been working on the issue for a long time. Infrastructure has been a simmering
