Water bills surged 62%, outpacing groceries and inflation
Food & Water Watch found bills unaffordable for low-income households in 93% of systems it analyzed, while data-center growth could add infrastructure costs.
Food & Water Watch released an analysis Tuesday1 finding that household water bills at the 500 largest community water systems rose 62% from 2015 to 2025, faster than inflation, grocery prices and median household income. Those systems serve 155 million people, about 45% of the country2. It tracks what families pay for the one utility no household can do without.
The family budget squeeze
Its analysis found water bills rose 19% faster than U.S. median household income, "forcing households to spend a higher portion of their stretched incomes on water."2 "It's almost a quiet emergency," Mary Grant, the group's water policy director, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Unequal bills, new costs
What a family pays depends heavily on where it lives. Food & Water Watch's report found more than half of the country's most expensive water providers in California, with San Jose Water Company topping the list at more than twice the national average rate1. The Banner found that a typical Maryland household pays about $75 a month in Annapolis but more than $276 for water and sewer in the privately operated Pinto-Bel Air system. Both figures assume 4,000 gallons of monthly use. Ownership drives much of the gap: for-profit water corporations charged typical households an average of $823 in 2025, compared with $494 at publicly owned systems, Food & Water Watch found2.
A new cost is coming from data centers. Food & Water Watch warned that their growth could require billions of dollars in new water infrastructure, potentially leaving local customers with part of the bill1. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an August executive order requiring data-center developers to pay the full cost of new electricity infrastructure, the Daily Caller reports, and the outlet says California has moved to shield utility customers from some costs tied to new facilities.
The decade's increase
The group puts that increase at 1.6 times the overall inflation rate and more than twice the rate for groceries2. That figure is an average. Individual systems ranged from a 308% increase in Daly City, California, to a 26% decrease in Orange County, Florida.
Who pays for pipes
The fight now turns to who pays for the pipes. Food & Water Watch argues Washington should spend more on upgrading the country's water systems rather than leave utilities to pass those costs onto households, the Daily Caller reports1.
The group's report warns that without action to restore federal support for public water systems and rein in corporate water abuses, water bills will keep rising faster than households can reasonably absorb, and it calls for passing the WATER Act2. It says the Trump administration proposed eliminating the primary source of federal support for local drinking water and wastewater projects, a cut of $2.46 billion that would leave $305 million. In the House, H.R. 3376, the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act introduced May 13, 2025 by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), would establish a trust fund for water and sewer infrastructure and sits in committee3.
The poorest families already feel it: Food & Water Watch found water bills unaffordable for low-income households in 93% of the systems it analyzed2.
Sources
FAMILY BRIEF The news and network for the American family.
