Water bills could double by midcentury in some cities as climate change strains supplies, to the point where over a quarter of U.S. families may struggle to afford water service, according to a new study.
Researchers at Stanford University developed a model to estimate how drought and water shortages driven by climate change could affect costs in urban areas, using Santa Cruz as a case study.
They found that under a best-case scenario, 26 percent of households in the Southern California city could have trouble paying for water bills. Under an extremely dry climate, that number could rise to 35 percent.
Published Wednesday in Nature Sustainability, the findings are relevant to other water-stressed cities like Los Angeles and San Diego. And they foretell a major challenge in the coming years for drinking water providers, which are already contending with the steep cost of replacing aging infrastructure.
