Striving for Equity in Public Investments in Water in California: An Analysis of Prop 1 Implementation

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | August 21st, 2019

 In 2014, California voters approved a $7.5 billion bond measure to fund water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvements. Prop 1 included significant provisions t

 In 2014, California voters approved a $7.5 billion bond measure to fund water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvements. Prop 1 included significant provisions to prioritize investments in disadvantaged communities.  For this report, looking at Prop 1 spending midstream, we analyzed the $2.5 billion that had been assigned to projects as of April 2019 out of $7 billion of the bond funding that has been committed so far through budget appropriations. We analyzed how much of that funding is going to projects benefiting disadvantaged communities and technical assistance efforts to increase the capacity of those communities to secure funds and manage projects. The executive summary of this report with our topline findings and recommendations below also serves as an index to the rest of the detailed report that follows. 

Subsidized or subsidizing? Municipal drinking water service funds in California

Utilities Policy (Elsevier) | September 29th, 2022

In the longstanding debate over efficiency and effectiveness in drinking water provision between public versus privately governed systems, one of the main contention poin

In the longstanding debate over efficiency and effectiveness in drinking water provision between public versus privately governed systems, one of the main contention points is the reasons for different bill levels imposed by city-run as compared to privately owned water systems. In this study, we examine one potential explanation for disparities in bills: whether cities use their general funds to subsidize their drinking water fund operations or vice versa. Either practice goes against “user pays” principles, as pointed out by critics of municipal operation. However, the claims have not been tested empirically at scale. We extract and analyze city water enterprise fund financial data from the California State Controller Cities Raw Data of Financial Transaction Reports to empirically assess the extent to which and reasons why interfund transfers occur in California's 267 municipally owned water utilities. We find very little evidence that substantial interfund transfers, in either direction, occur between water enterprise funds and general funds within California cities, indicating that enterprise fund control measures are generally successful. These findings suggest that with proper regulation, the municipal fund subsidy debate is essentially a distraction from the real reasons why municipal and other water provider rates differ substantially.

Summary of Climate Change Impacts to Water and Sanitation for Frontline Communities in the United States: Water, Sanitation, and Climate Change in the United States Part 1

Pacific Institute | December 6th, 2023

Climate change is among the most urgent, wide-ranging crises we face. It poses significant challenges and is already resulting in severe impacts to drinking water and san

Climate change is among the most urgent, wide-ranging crises we face. It poses significant challenges and is already resulting in severe impacts to drinking water and sanitation access—both for those currently living without access and for communities where forces like drought, flooding, sea-level rise, wildfires, and intensifying storms threaten to degrade or strip basic services from the people. Access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water and sanitation is essential for human health and wellbeing, as well as economic prosperity—and climate change will inevitably make ensuring all have access more challenging. Without water and sanitation access, people do not have water to drink, cannot clean, shower, or wash their hands, and cannot safely dispose of human waste. They may have to travel long distances to purchase and haul water back to their homes. Without access to water, they also have less ability to cool their homes, protect themselves from wildfires, and work or go to school. An economic assessment by DigDeep found that for every household in the United States without access to water and sanitation, the domestic economy loses $15,800 annually in extra health care costs, time and money spent on bottled water, lost educational or work opportunities, and premature death (DigDeep 2022). (Click here for Part 2)

Tap Water Affordability in Arizona

Arizona State University (ASU) | February 20th, 2025

In this report, the Kyl Center for Water Policy presents a comprehensive set of tap water affordability data for community water systems (CWS) in Arizona. Communities can

In this report, the Kyl Center for Water Policy presents a comprehensive set of tap water affordability data for community water systems (CWS) in Arizona. Communities can use this study to better assess how their current and future charges for water impact low- and median-income households. Water access can be improved when water charges are designed with affordability in mind so that fewer families face the risk of disconnection due to non-payment. On the other hand, most water providers rely on fees to pay for replacing aging infrastructure and water system improvements to ensure reliability.

Temporal changes in the vertical distribution of flow and chloride in deep wells

National Groundwater Association (NGWA) | July 4th, 2005

The combination of flowmeter and depth‐dependent water‐quality data was used to evaluate the quantity and source of high‐chloride water yielded from different depth

The combination of flowmeter and depth‐dependent water‐quality data was used to evaluate the quantity and source of high‐chloride water yielded from different depths to eight production wells in the Pleasant Valley area of southern California. The wells were screened from 117 to 437 m below land surface, and in most cases, flow from the aquifer into the wells was not uniformly distributed throughout the well screen. Wells having as little as 6 m of screen in the overlying upper aquifer system yielded as much as 50% of their water from the upper system during drought periods, while the deeper parts of the well screens yielded 15% or less of the total yield of the wells. Mixing of water within wells during pumping degraded higher‐quality water with poorer‐quality water from deeper depths, and in some cases with poorer‐quality water from the overlying upper aquifer system. Changes in the mixture of water within a well, resulting from changes in the distribution of flow into the well, changed the quality of water from the surface discharge of wells over time. The combination of flowmeter and depth‐dependent water quality data yielded information about sources of high‐chloride water to wells that was not available on the basis of samples collected from nearby observation wells. Changing well design to eliminate small quantities of poor‐quality water from deeper parts of the well may improve the quality of water from some wells without greatly reducing well yield.

The case for state-level drinking water affordability programs: Conceptual and empirical evidence from California

Utilities Policy (Elsevier) | April 1st, 2020

Informed by the design of a program in California, we make a three-part argument for why state-level governments might consider implementing direct bill-assistance progra

Informed by the design of a program in California, we make a three-part argument for why state-level governments might consider implementing direct bill-assistance programs for drinking water service to address growing affordability concerns for low-income households. State-level operation of bill-assistance programs represents a departure from the global trend of allowing water utilities to operate bill-assistance programs at their own discretion. We first explain the motivation for enhanced public sector support to help households pay for drinking water service. In state-level contexts such as California, we find that the basic household affordability equation has worsened due to an increase in the numerator of residential retail bills and a stagnation in the denominator of household incomes. We next demonstrate why direct bill assistance to households is necessary even with the presence of other system-level financial support or retail rate structure policies. Finally, we make the case that direct bill-assistance programs are best situated at the state level, due to substantial variation in systems’ capacity and demonstrated willingness to run their own robust affordability programs for vulnerable customers.

The challenge of closing the climate adaptation gap for water supply utilities

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 29th, 2024

The Human Right to Water

Pacific Institute | May 1st, 2007

More than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Two and a half billion people live without access to adequate sanitation systems necessary to reduce exposu

More than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Two and a half billion people live without access to adequate sanitation systems necessary to reduce exposure to water-related diseases. The failure of the international aid community, nations, and local organizations to satisfy these basic human needs has led to substantial, unnecessary, and preventable human suffering. Tens of thousand of people, mostly young children and the elderly, die every day from water-related diseases. In this analysis, Peter Gleick address three critical questions: 1. Is there a human right to water? 2. If there is a human right to water, what is the advantage and implications of acknowledging such a right? 3. What are the obligations of states, regional governments, organizations, and individuals in achieving these rights? […]

The Human Right To Water In Poor Communities Of Color

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | January 19th, 2021

Since the state enacted the Human Right to Water Legislation (AB 685) eight years ago, California has added more regulatory authority and more funding to help small disa

Since the state enacted the Human Right to Water Legislation (AB 685) eight years ago, California has added more regulatory authority and more funding to help small disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged community water systems. The California Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) can order mandatory consolidation to merge failing community systems with another, higher-functioning water system. The State Water Board is authorized to issue an enforcement order to mandate that water systems meet water quality standards. Other recent legislation authorizes the State Water Board to designate an Interim Administrator to manage the system, improve it, or consolidate the water system with another. The newly enacted Safer and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) drinking water program calls for annual appropriation of $130 million dollars for ten years to address the problems of disadvantaged community water systems. This report identifies the 64 community water systems in Los Angeles County serving disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged populations.

The importance of system configuration for distributed direct potable water reuse

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | April 27th, 2020

Water and wastewater infrastructure worldwide faces unprecedented demand and supply conflicts that require unconventional solutions. In this study, we develop a novel mod

Water and wastewater infrastructure worldwide faces unprecedented demand and supply conflicts that require unconventional solutions. In this study, we develop a novel modelling framework to assess the environmental and economic implications of a hybrid water supply system that supplements a centralized surface water supply with distributed direct potable reuse (DPR) of municipal wastewater, as a strategy to address such challenges. The model is tested with real water and wastewater systems data from the City of Houston, Texas. Results show that supplementing the conventional centralized water supply with distributed DPR would reduce water age in the drinking-water distribution network and hence improve water quality; properly designed system configurations attain system-wide net energy savings even with the high energy consumption of existing technologies used for advanced treatment of the wastewater. A target energy efficiency for future advanced treatment technologies is identified to achieve net energy saving with all hybrid system configurations. Furthermore, distributed DPR remains financially competitive compared with other unconventional water supply solutions. The modelling framework and associated databases developed in this study serve an important research need for quantitatively characterizing distributed and hybrid water systems, laying the necessary foundation for rational design of integrated urban water systems.