Wicker unveils bipartisan legislation to decrease water bills for struggling Americans

Local utilities and low-income Americans could benefit from a new bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).

The Low-Income Water Customer Assistance Programs Act of 2018, S. 3564, introduced on Oct. 10 with U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), would establish 32 programs nationwide for low-income residents to receive aid in paying their water bills and an equal number of programs designed to assist low-income residents with paying their wastewater utility bills, according to a Nov. 1 statement released by Sen. Wicker. Both Sens. Wicker and Cardin are members of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

“Economic development requires basic infrastructure, including clean drinking water and wastewater services,” Sen. Wicker said last week in announcing S. 3564, which would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish the pilot programs to assist low-income households in maintaining access to sanitation services and drinking water, among other purposes, according to the text of the bill.

“Our bill would encourage utilities to improve the affordability of their services,” added Sen. Wicker.
Water bill prices are predicted to increase 41 percent by 2020, according to Wicker’s office, which noted that if bills are sustained at that rate, almost one in three American households may not be able to afford running water.

In turn, utilities won’t have the available money to make critical infrastructure upgrades to maintain safe drinking water and wastewater operations.

“If consumers cannot pay their water bills, then utilities cannot make the needed repairs and upgrades to their drinking water and wastewater treatment plants, nor to the pipes and pumps that deliver water throughout their service area,” said Sen. Cardin. “The federal government requires these upgrades to our water infrastructure because these upgrades keep people safe, but we then have the responsibility to make sure that our citizens are financially capable of meeting these requirements.

S. 3564 is under consideration by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.