By Stacey Isaac Berahzer

At IB Environmental (ibE) a big part of our work involves playing the role of connecting utilities and non-profit organizations. There is much common ground for these two groups to collaborate on, for example:

• Water quality watchdog nonprofits can partner with a utility to provide education through stream cleanups and citizen workshops.

• Nonprofits that act as social advocates for low-income residents and seniors often partner with the local utility to administer customer assistance programs (CAPs) for the financially vulnerable, a group that these organizations know more intimately than the utility does.

But there is one area where nonprofits and water utilities can't seem to find common ground: What to do about those customers who don't pay their water bills?

On the one hand, some activists are saying that water is a human right. While on the other hand, the recommended utility best management approach is to run, even the government-owned utilities, as a business, or "enterprise fund." Simply giving your services and product for free can't be the best business approach. The truth is that utility financial health is important, even for the nonprofits who may not realize it. A utility with healthy financials has a good leak detection program that leaves more water in rivers and lakes, feasibly promoting the mission of river advocate groups. A well-funded utility has healthy reserve funds for emergencies like COVID-19 or the next climate change-fueled mega hurricane. Advocates for water as a human right ought to like that these financial reserves keep water service on, even during these disasters. A utility that attracts top professionals and provides ongoing training opportunities has the staff with foresight to value customer assistance programs (CAPs), which is something that human rights advocates should appreciate. 

So, how do we keep utility finance strong while keeping water on for customers who really can't afford to pay for the service? Hundreds of utilities across the country have developed CAPs to direct assistance to low-income customers. However, it is important to differentiate between customers who aren't paying because they can't pay, from those who aren't paying because they don't want to pay. Imagine having just a trickle of water when you turn on the tap? You can wash your hands, fill a pot for cooking and eventually have enough caught in a bucket for a shower. If you COULD afford to pay your water bill to avoid such an inconvenience, you probably would. But, if you genuinely don't have the money to pay the bill this month, let alone the backlog of a few months’ worth of bills, then you are grateful for the trickle compared to the fair scenario of no water at all.

Restricting the flow of water to non-paying customers has the elegance of winnowing out the people who CHOOSE not to pay, and getting them to contribute to the service. At this point, you may be wondering "who doesn't pay their water bill if they do have the money?" Well, it is feasible that there are those bad actors (or aspiring free-riders) out there even under normal circumstances. But you may take your rose-colored glasses off too when you consider that at least twelve states have announced a moratorium on water shutoffs due to COVID-19 at the time this blog post is being written. As people are scared about whether they will have a job next month, what will keep them from putting the water bill VERY low on the priority list, when the water shutoff moratoriums are on the news? 

Perhaps the ONLY consistent message with COVID-19 is to wash your hands. Even masks just a couple of months ago were not recommended, but now they are. However, the need for water for hand washing has been paramount from the very beginning of the crisis. So, the moratoriums make sense. However, they will drastically affect financial health for many water utilities going forward. For instance, a survey by the American Water Works Association found that “80% of service providers are anticipating revenue generation/cash flow challenges in the coming months.” A utility with a history of prudent financial practices has enough of a reserve to operate safely for a few months. But many utilities are not that secure. They will run into problems keeping their operations going within a shorter time-frame. Safe, clean water will be in jeopardy and wastewater spills will increase. That does not protect human health or the environment, so advocates of humans and wildlife won't be pleased.

Cape Town, South Africa, was on the brink of running out of water in 2017. In 2018, the City was installing some 2,000 devices per week that restrict the flow of water into a home. Commercial customers, such as hotels, facilitated reduced flow by inserting a disc or simple device to restrict the volume of water that flowed to individual shower heads and other appliances. The restrictors were a constant reminder of the City's water peril. Another simple technology is to insert a restrictor plate or throttle valve at the water meter for a household. Some of the newer, high tech water meters allow the utility to control flow to individual customers, even remotely. The reduced flow serves the purpose of inconveniencing a customer enough to pay the bill if the customer has the financial means to do so. The low flow also keeps the water on for basic needs for low-income customers who aren’t paying their bill currently. More than that though, the restricting process facilitates a lower bill for the low-income customer into the future: the customer won’t use as much water, and so the bill should be lower too.

If you know of other utilities in the United States, besides Phoenix, AZ, that is using this reduced flow practice, drop us a note here or in the comments below. These low-tech restrictors may be a useful tool for striking the balance between human/environmental health advocates and the water utility industry.