The California Water Resources Control Board last week sent out its first round of checks to cover community water systems’ debts, accrued when customers could not pay their bills due to pandemic-related hardships, as part of the state’s ongoing pandemic recover efforts.
The checks mark the first batch of payments under the $1 billion California Water and Wastewater Arrearages Payment Program, which provides financial relief to cover payment shortfalls and arrearages accrued during the pandemic by customers of water systems that provide drinking water.
The State Water Board will distribute funds through Jan. 31, 2022, prioritizing small water systems first. Water systems must apply for funding before Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. to participate. The statewide moratorium on water shutoffs for unpaid bills remains in place through December 2021.
The estimated total in statewide arrearages, $333 million, is based on the board’s comprehensive survey of public water systems in California during this summer. The checks were granted to water systems to cover residential and commercial accounts that are 60 days or more behind on payments for debt accrued between March 4, 2020 and June 15, 2021. As a condition of receiving the funds, participating systems must credit their customers’ accounts within 60 days of receiving funds and notify them that their water bill debt has been cleared or reduced.
To date, about 170 systems have applied for arrearages funding totaling $24.8 million. As applications continue to come in, this number increases daily.
“The pandemic has had a devastating impact on California in many ways, but we are proud of the fact that Californians who suffered financial hardships during this period have not faced water shutoffs and that this program is relieving the burden of water debt,” said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the State Water Board’s Division of Drinking Water. “These checks help both customers and water systems get through this difficult time, especially small systems in disadvantaged communities that already face numerous challenges.”
In July 2021, the California Legislature authorized that $1 billion in federal funding be allocated to the Arrearages Payment Program to provide relief from statewide household and commercial water bill debt as well as wastewater debt. Based on the survey results, program funds are expected to meet 100 percent of reported drinking water debt.