Publication Highlight: Socio-hydrological impacts of rate design on water affordability during drought
Water rate decisions by utilities are an important factor in driving the costs of monthly water bills and can threaten household water affordability, especially for low-income households. Rates are often subject to local and state policies, limiting the flexibility of utilities to set progressive rate structures. Decisions to invest in long-term infrastructure development and short-term, emergency measures to help meet demands in water scarce cities can result in increasing water rates, further threatening household level water affordability.
In a recently published Environmental Research Letters paper, Socio-hydrological impacts of rate design on water affordability during drought, authors Adam Nayak, Dr. Benjamin Rachunok, Dr. Barton Thompson, and Dr. Sarah Fletcher propose a socio-hydrological modeling framework to assess the impacts of water rate designs on household-level water affordability. The framework combines legal analysis, behavioral economics, and water resource systems modeling to help utilities design rates that improve affordability and identify the impacts of local and state policies on affordability. They apply their framework to Santa Cruz, California, which has historically faced water scarcity and multi-year drought conditions.
Read the full article that is linked below!