State Policy, Local Water Systems: Affordability, Conservation, and Infrastructure Finance

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Water affordability has emerged as a central policy challenge at the intersection of environmental regulation, infrastructure finance, utility governance, and household well-being. Yet affordability is not determined solely by water rates. It is also shaped by state mandates, local revenue choices, administrative design, and emerging demands on water systems. In the spirit of APPAM’s theme, this panel brings together four papers that examine how policy variation and institutional design shape water affordability across local systems. The first paper evaluates non-functional turf replacement in California in the context of AB 1572 and related local conservation policy. Drawing on evidence from the Eastern Municipal Water District, it examines the water savings, bill effects, and cost-effectiveness of turf replacement for commercial, industrial, and institutional customers. The study finds meaningful reductions in water use among participants, while also showing that the affordability implications depend on conversion costs, rebate levels, and heterogeneity across customers. The second paper analyzes the affordability impacts of alternative funding mechanisms for meeting MS4 stormwater permit requirements in Riverside, California. It asks how different revenue designs distribute compliance costs across households and income groups, highlighting the equity consequences of infrastructure finance under environmental mandates. The third paper turns to a rapidly growing source of demand by examining data centers across the United States and their implications for local water use and affordability. As water-intensive industrial growth increasingly intersects with local utility systems, this paper raises important questions about who bears the costs of new demand. The fourth paper examines participants’ perceptions of Philadelphia’s Tiered Assistance Program, with particular attention to automatic enrollment, program access, and the ways administrative design shapes take-up and the lived experience of affordability policy. Together, the papers highlight three broader themes. First, an affordability policy cannot be separated from decisions about conservation, environmental compliance, and long-term system planning. Second, state and local policy choices distribute the costs and benefits of water management unevenly across households and communities. Third, equitable water policy requires not only attention to rates, but also to program design, financing mechanisms, and the institutional settings in which policies are implemented. By linking conservation, stormwater finance, increased industrial demand, and customer assistance, this panel offers a timely perspective on how water systems allocate burdens and protections in an era of growing fiscal and environmental pressure.

Policy Area

• Natural Resource, Energy, and Environmental Policy

Chair

• Heather E. Campbell, Claremont Graduate University

Discussant

• Michelle Graff, Georgia Institute of Technology

Organizer

• Mehdi Nemati, University of California, Riverside

Individual Presentations

• From Rebate to Regulation: Evaluating Non-Functional Turf Removal in Southern California - Presenting Author: Mehdi Nemati, University of California, Riverside

• “Thank God you guys have a program like this”: Participant Perspectives on Water Affordability - Presenting Author: Rebecca Suzanne Pepe, Johns Hopkins University

• Who Bears the Costs? Data Centers, Water Governance, and Compounding Local Inequities - Presenting Author: Laura Joaquina Morales, University of Pennsylvania

• Affordability Impacts of Alternative Funding Schemes to Finance the Costs of Meeting MS4 Permit Regulations - Presenting Author: Niloofar Shoja Razavi, University of California, Riverside; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Kurt Schwabe, University of California, Riverside; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Mehdi Nemati, University of California, Riverside; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Andrew William Crosby, University of California, Riverside