Rising water bills could swamp household budgets

Boston Globe

03-03-2025

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There's no end in sight either, because the electricity, labor, and chemicals needed to treat water get more expensive by the year. More important is the need to spend billions on replacing or refurbishing water treatment plants built decades ago, and are incapable of meeting tough new water safety standards.
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'Getting water is not our problem,' said Manny Teodoro, a professor at the University of Wisconsin and co-author of 'The Profits of Distrust,' a book about the failings of municipal water systems. 'Pipes and people and treatment plants, that's what's expensive.'
Rising water rates are a problem for middle-class households, but a potential crisis for poor families, which can ill afford the additional expense. In December, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimated that up to 19 million households — 15 percent of all US households — can't afford drinking water without skimping on other necessities.
'Wealthier households probably don't think twice about their water bills,' said Casey Wichman, an economist at the Georgia Institute of Technology who studies municipal water systems. But 'for low-income households, I think this rise in costs is notable and concerning.'
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One problem is the sheer age of the water infrastructure in many cities. 'We have systems that are well over a hundred years old,' said Jennifer Pederson, executive director of the
Boston is scheduled to spend a little over $400 million in capital improvement projects between now and 2027, according to Luciano Petruzziello, the water and sewer commission's chief financial officer. In addition, the city faces price increases from the
The MWRA has raised its wholesale rate by around 4 percent a year for the past 20 years, said its director of finance, Thomas Durkin. The agency has told Boston to expect annual increases of 3.3 percent for the next three years. The price hikes cover rising costs for labor, energy, and water cleaning chemicals, as well as $200 million in capital improvements. Petruzziello said that the Boston water system's payments to the MWRA will rise from $255 million last year to $302 million in 2029.
Water and sewer upgrades can be more challenging for smaller communities because the costs must be shared among a smaller number of ratepayers. Jim Boudreau, town administrator in Scituate, said his town of about 20,000 has spent $30 million over the past decade replacing century-old mains. 'Some of the pipes were so old we could not flush the system, because the pipes would break,' Boudreau said. 'The town had not invested in literally decades.'
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As a result, the basic rate for water service in Scituate has risen nearly 40 percent since 2020, with the sewer rate climbing 53 percent.
Across the nation, water treatment plants nationwide are wearing out. Wichman noted that many of the nation's wastewater treatment facilities were built in the 1970s and 1980s, after the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Between then and fiscal 1984, the US government spent $41 billion on clean water projects in the biggest civilian public works program since the Interstate Highway System.
But now those plants are half a century old, and someone must pay to replace them. The EPA estimates that the nation will have to invest $1.25 trillion over the next 20 years to maintain safe water and sewer systems.
'Water in general has been underfunded for decades,' said Pederson. 'Fifteen years we've been trying to raise the alarm that water systems need funding.'
The EPA estimates that Massachusetts alone will need to spend $37 billion on water projects over the next 20 years, and noted that the massive infrastructure bill passed by the Biden administration will only contribute $1 billion in funding. Massachusetts residents will be on the hook for the rest.
The hook will dig even deeper due to new federal mandates. The EPA has set tough new standards aimed at removing toxic 'forever chemicals' from drinking water. Massachusetts is one of 11 states that already regulate these chemicals, but the EPA standard is four times tougher. That means billions in treatment plant upgrades.
The EPA is also cracking down on 'service lines.' the pipes that carry water from the mains to our homes. About 9 percent are toxic lead pipes, and the agency has decreed that utilities must remove these lead pipes over the next 10 years. It's a sensible public health measure, but it means digging up millions of front yards and spending billions of dollars. And all of us will be paying for it, with every glass of tap water.
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Hiawatha Bray can be reached at