Please leave this field empty
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
  • About
  • Problems
  • Campaigns
  • Impacts
  • Research
  • Contact
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
  • facebook
  • twitter
Please leave this field empty
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
$
Menu
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Search
Please leave this field empty
  • facebook
  • twitter

Quarantine At Home — Even Though We’re Shutting Off Your Water

As we fight to protect access to clean water as a fundamental human right, there are places where utilities are actually sending out shutoff notices. 

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • google-plus
  • envelope

We all need safe food and clean water.

Donate
03.25.20

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans are pushing water utilities and governors to keep water flowing regardless of unpaid bills.

Without a national ban on water shutoffs at least for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, families in some cities are still receiving shut off notices. It’s unacceptable and irresponsible - but community by community, we’re pushing back. 

Tell Your Governor to Keep the Water On!
 

Stop Turning Our Water Off

In the small town of Alpha, New Jersey (population 2,000), three dozen homes actually -- and outrageously -- received notices warning that their water was being turned off within the next several days. In the midst of a total shutdown of all the town’s municipal facilities, the notices advised residents to pay their bills online, or place them in a drop box at the municipal offices. 

Residents who were served with notices contacted the local media, and the utility quickly announced that the notices were sent out in error. But without strong statewide action (in lieu of national action), this could happen in other towns in New Jersey. Governor Phil Murphy has been “encouraging” utilities to voluntarily pause water shutoffs. Clearly that’s not good enough. 

People in New Jersey need Gov. Murphy to enact a firm order to suspend all new shutoffs for nonpayment, and for every utility to waive all late fees and reconnect all households who lost service for nonpayment.

Meanwhile, over a thousand miles south, a similar debacle went down in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. A city commission meeting erupted in a shouting match over the utility’s process of shutting off power and water despite the COVID-19 crisis. According to one Commissioner, 52 households were cut off in just one week, with another 53 scheduled to be shut off the following week. 

Again, residents spoke out and thanks to the actions of a few local leaders and the glare of the media spotlight, the shutoff policies were changed. The city has now suspended shutoffs.  

Unfortunately, media attention and public outrage isn’t always enough. In Troy, Missouri, 41 customers were shut off while the country started to grapple with the pandemic. Frustrated residents contacted City Hall, but the mayor seemed unwilling to budge on granting any leniency to families who were behind on their payments, saying that they would consider changing the policy at a meeting in early April. They would still be without water if a generous donor didn’t step up and pay their bills. 

In the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, the town has still not developed a plan to stop water service shutoffs, even though a nursing home in the community was one of the first places to see the deadly impacts of the coronavirus.

We Need All States to Stop Water Shutoffs 

As of Tuesday morning, 364 municipalities and states have suspended water shutoffs, protecting more than 137 million people — that’s more than 40% of the US population — but the fact that water service in a given state is a patchwork of systems makes it difficult to expect any consistency. Without state laws requiring disclosure, it is hard to even track how many households are shut off for nonpayment in a given year, much less how many remain without water service right now during this pandemic.

Governors have the power to enforce statewide action by demanding that all utilities suspend shutoffs in a time of emergency and restore service to those who have lost it prior.  So far, very few states have initiated statewide moratoria on all water shutoffs. Some have moved to halt shutoffs across the state, but only for investor-owned utilities, the finances of which are regulated by the state utility commissions. We need every Governor to suspend shutoffs for every water utility and order service restoration, nothing less.

After Governor Tony Evers issued an Executive Order declaring a public health emergency in Wisconsin to enhance the state's response to COVID-19, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) directed water, electric, and natural gas utilities to cease disconnecting residential service for nonpayment until the state public health emergency is lifted. They also urged utilities to make reasonable attempts to reconnect service to occupied dwellings that had been disconnected. The Wisconsin PSC has authority over any utility that provides water to the public. As a result, all Wisconsin households served by water systems are protected from losing running water right now. That one order protects more than 4 million people, 

The Governor of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, also issued an Executive Order temporarily prohibiting providers of water services from discontinuing service to any customer during this state of public health emergency, protecting 12 million people. The Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan has taken similar action prohibiting all utility disconnections as well as late fees during the crisis, protecting more than 5 million.

Water Should Be Affordable At All Times

The quick action we have seen from all over the country is encouraging. But it should remind us that this access to clean water should be a universal right, at all times. 

From 1977 to 2017, federal funding for water fell by 77 percent. After that, the only way localities could raise enough funding to cover necessary infrastructure improvements, was to hike up water rates. That’s why, even prior to this pandemic, so many people are unable to pay their water bills.

We’re working with lawmakers on the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act to restore adequate federal support to our water infrastructure to guarantee access to safe and affordable water and sanitation at all times. The WATER Act would serve as a permanent safeguard for water in the United States during moments like these, but also every other moment.

Tell Your Governor to Make Sure Nobody Has a Dry Tap!

Related Links

  • We Need a Country-Wide Moratorium on Water Shutoffs Amid Coronavirus
  • House Stimulus Package Reiterates Need for National Water Equity and Food Safety Support
Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

Monsanto's Roundup is a "probable human carcinogen." We need to ban it!

Get the latest on your food and water with news, research and urgent actions.

Please leave this field empty

Latest News

  • Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

    Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

  • Biden’s 100-Day Must-Do List for a Cleaner, Healthier Country

    Biden’s 100-Day Must-Do List for a Cleaner, Healthier Country

  • Fracking, Federal Lands, And Follow-Through: Will President Biden Do What He Promised?

    Fracking, Federal Lands, And Follow-Through: Will President Biden Do What He Promised?

See More News & Opinions

For Media: See our latest press releases and statements

Food & Water Insights

Looking for more insights and our latest research?

Visit our policy & research library
  • Eversource’s Plan to Privatize New Hartford’s Water

  • The Urgent Case for a Moratorium on Mega-Dairies in New Mexico

  • Fracking, Power Plants and Exports: Three Steps for Meaningful Climate Action

Fracking activist with stickersFracking activist in hatLegal team loves family farmsFood & Water Watch organizer protecting your food

Work locally, make a difference.

Get active in your community.

Food & Water Impact

  • Victories
  • Stories
  • Facts
  • Trump, Here's a Better Use for $25 Billion

  • Here's How We're Going to Build the Clean Energy Revolution

  • How a California Activist Learned to Think Locally

Keep drinking water safe and affordable for everyone.

Take Action
food & water watch logo
en Español

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

Food & Water Watch is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Food & Water Action is a 501(c)4 organization.

Food & Water Watch Headquarters

1616 P Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20036

Main: 202.683.2500

Contact your regional office.

Work with us: See all job openings

  • Problems
    • Broken Democracy
    • Climate Change & Environment
    • Corporate Control of Food
    • Corporate Control of Water
    • Factory Farming & Food Safety
    • Fracking
    • GMOs
    • Global Trade
    • Pollution Trading
  • Solutions
    • Advocate Fair Policies
    • Legal Action
    • Organizing for Change
    • Research & Policy Analysis
  • Our Impact
    • Facts
    • Stories
    • Victories
  • Take Action
    • Get Active Where You Live
    • Organizing Tools
    • Find an Event
    • Volunteer with Us
    • Live Healthy
    • Donate
  • Give
    • Give Now
    • Give Monthly
    • Give a Gift Membership
    • Membership Options
    • Fundraise
    • Workplace Giving
    • Planned Giving
    • Other Ways to Give
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Learn more about Food & Water Action www.foodandwateraction.org.
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • 2021 © Food & Water Watch
  • www.foodandwaterwatch.org
  • Terms of Service
  • Data Usage Policy