 | | A resident of Detroit displays a past-due water bill. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue |
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| Hundreds of utilities and dozens of state governors and regulatory agencies have responded to the coronavirus emergency by suspending the practice of shutting off water for residents who are late paying their utility bills.
But what about after the emergency period? Even though many utilities will not be shutting off water in the coming weeks and months, household water bills will continue to arrive. Residents are expected to pay those bills after the emergency orders are lifted. That could pose problems down the road for both individuals and utilities. |
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 | | As businesses and industries shutter, water use patterns in U.S. cities are changing. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue |
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| Only a few weeks into the shutdown of large portions of the American economy, the loss of jobs and business is already staggering.
Some 6.6 million people filed unemployment claims last week, according to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday. That number is nearly ten times the previous weekly record, from 1982.
The widespread closure of restaurants, manufacturing facilities, theaters, dentist offices, and universities will reverberate not only in jobs reports. The shutdown will also have immediate and potentially long-lasting consequences for America’s water utilities and the people they serve.
Not all of the country’s roughly 50,000 public water systems share the same vulnerabilities, analysts say. But all will be affected in some way by changes in water use patterns and prohibitions on turning off water service. |
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The volume of Covid-19 news can be overwhelming. We've started a live blog, updated throughout the day, to help you sort through it. It's a library for how water, sanitation, and hygiene connect to the pandemic, both in the US and globally.
Featured Covid-19 + water coverage from this week include: - Amid Food Industry Shifts, Farmers Dump Milk
- House Democrats Advocate for Water Provisions in Next Covid-19 Bill
- Raleigh Changes Water Rate Structure in Covid-19 Response
- Frack Water Demand Forecasted to Drop
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The U.S. Great Lakes have surged to unprecedented levels, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to coastal roads, marinas, and household property. Even more assets could be at risk, owing to forecasts that the swell is likely to continue through the spring and early summer. |
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What's Up With Water - April 6, 2020
For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud.
This week's episode features coverage on Australia, where the government of New South Wales approved the expansion of longwall coal mining beneath a drinking water reservoir in the Sydney metropolitan area.
Additional international coverage looks at Mexico, where roughly 36,000 residents in the border town of Mexicali voted on the fate of a large brewer.
For news in the United States, rising seas around San Francisco are threatening billions of dollars of commercial property and transportation infrastructure, as well as housing for tens of thousands of low-income residents, and habitat for endangered species.
Finally, this week's featured Circle of Blue story looks at the virus detectives who are studying urban sewage for clues to the spread of the coronovirus. You can listen to the latest edition of What's Up With Water, as well as all past editions, by downloading the podcasts on iTunes, following Circle of Blue on Spotify, following on iHeart Radio, and subscribing on SoundCloud. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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 | | In August 2014, people rallied in Detroit to protest the cutting of water service to residents behind on their bills. |
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| The cost of drinking water and sewer services in the United States, rising on average at twice the rate of inflation, is giving birth to a new civil rights movement, one based on access to water and sanitation for the poor.
Stirred by the thousands of Detroiters whose water service was shut off in 2014, local groups have coalesced into a national campaign for affordable water. They seek new policies at the local, state, and federal levels to help the country’s poorest residents maintain basic services during an era of financial tumult. |
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