Here’s why more Americans are struggling with water scarcity
The study found that water service has been cut off to an estimated 1.4 million people living in more than a half-million American households.
The cities with the highest shut-off rates, according to the report, were Detroit, New Orleans, Springdale, Arkansas, and Oklahoma City.
Among these cities, at least 10 percent of the residents had lost their water service for some period of time, and in Oklahoma City, the most impacted city, 23 percent lost their access to clean, running water in 2017.
In addition to climate change, the reasons water bill rates are going up so quickly also include aging infrastructure and declining populations, the report said.
How serious is water scarcity in the U.S.?
Mary Grant, author of the Food & Water Watch report, noted that households in New Orleans had to pay more than $1,000 for water service, which was about 9 percent of their household income.
Jaime Moten, 41, living in Oklahoma City, was quoted in CBS news saying that her water was shut off for three days in 2016 after she lost her job as a grocery store manager.
Relatives provided water that she and her children used to drink and brush their teeth, and the Salvation Army paid the $202 needed to turn her water back on.
"You feel like you’re sneaking water."
"There’s no excuse for the wealthiest country in the world to have citizens who have to live that way," said Tiffani Ashley Bell, a co-founder of the Detroit Water Project, regarding the report.