Household water bills rose 62% on average from 2015 to 2025 across the nation’s 500 largest community water systems, the Virginia Mercury reports.
Those systems serve about 155 million people. The increase ran faster than overall inflation and more than twice the rate of grocery price increases over the same period. Bills also rose 19% faster than household incomes. In Louisiana, Maryland, New Hampshire and West Virginia, water bills grew about twice as fast as incomes. Average annual costs ranged from $286 in Idaho to $1,383 in West Virginia. For-profit providers charged more than publicly owned systems.
“Industrial pollution, aging infrastructure, and federal disinvestment are fueling a crisis for the nation’s water systems,” the Food and Water Watch report said. The American Water Works Association estimates U.S. drinking-water systems will need as much as $2.4 trillion over the next 25 years; if users alone cover those costs, bills could more than double by 2050.
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