Utilities’ efforts to update infrastructure and secure clean water supplies are pushing up the cost for households, and an increasing number of families are struggling to afford the basic necessity, the Los Angeles Times reports. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making droughts worse and more frequent and disrupting local water sources. “Drought worsened by climate change will likely disproportionately raise the cost of water for frontline communities, raising barriers to access due to unaffordability,” researchers from DigDeep and the Pacific Institute wrote in a recent report. (LA Times $; Climate Signals background: Drought)
