A striking new report from the national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch details the soaring cost of water throughout the U.S. The comprehensive study tracks the change in water bills between 2015-2025 among the 500 largest systems in the country and shows an alarming trend contributing to the deepening affordability crisis in America.

The dataset included the 17 largest community water systems in Pennsylvania, which collectively serve 42 percent of the state population. The report finds four private water systems in Pennsylvania rank among the top ten most expensive systems in the United States:

(1) San Jose Water Company (CA) 

(2) American Water – Huntington (WV)

(3) American Water – Kanawha Valley (WV) 

(4) Escondido (CA)

(5) American Water – Pittsburgh (PA)

(5) American Water – Lake Scranton (PA)

(5) American Water – West (PA)

(8) Aqua Pennsylvania (PA)

(9) Santa Barbara (CA) 

(10) Marin Municipal Water District (CA) 

Among the study’s top findings:

• The average water system in Pennsylvania has increased water bills by 65 percent for typical households over the last decade. Nationally, the increase was 62 percent.
•  Water bills have increased 43 percent faster than Pennsylvania median household income. Nationally, the difference was 19 percent. 
• Nationally, water bills increased 1.6 times the rate of inflation and over 2 times the price of groceries. 
• For-profit corporate water systems charged 82 percent more than local governments charged in Pennsylvania. In the state, the average corporate system charged $1,172.01 a year, while the average local government system charged $642.83 a year. 

The study compared 2025 water bills to those from our last comprehensive study of these systems in 2015. No federal agency or other government entity collects this information; no other publicly accessible resource holds this information.

“The consequences of water privatization are clear: corporate control is driving people’s water bills through the roof at a time when everything is getting more expensive. It’s time for all levels of government to rein in the rampant corporate abuses of water and support adequate funding to prioritize safe, affordable water and keep water in communities’ hands,” said Mary Grant, Water Policy Director for Food & Water Watch. “As the Pennsylvanians struggle with growing costs for our most basic public service, water, Pennsylvania electeds must do everything they can to protect every person’s access to safe and affordable water — and that includes repealing Act 12.”     

“It should surprise no one that large, for-profit water companies charge substantially more for the same service than a non-profit municipal system,” said Bill Ferguson, co-founder of Keep Water Affordable. “It is baked into the financial structure of the for-profit company.  When you pay an Aqua or American water bill in Pennsylvania slightly less than 60 cents of every dollar you pay them goes towards the actual cost of supplying your water.  The rest – a bit over 40 cents of every dollar paid – goes to their pretax profits.  The non-profit can supply the same service without having to charge that extra 40 cents on every dollar. People should not have to feed corporate profits for something as basic as water service.”

Background

The report comes a decade after Pennsylvania law changed how municipal water systems are valued, opening the floodgates to water privatization in Pennsylvania; last year, American Water announced a merger with Essential Utilities, threatening further privatization. Passed in 2016, Act 12 created a predatory pricing mechanism for water and sewer system privatizations. Under Act 12, large water corporations can use outside consultants to inflate the value of the water or sewer system they are acquiring, and then recover that amount along with investor returns by raising customer water and sewer rates.