The cost of clean water in eastern Kentucky is going up. That’s according to a report cited by the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center. The group wanted to look into water affordability and the impact of so-called water burden on households.
Rebecca Shelton is the center’s policy director. She said water burden is the percentage of household income that goes towards drinking water and sewage disposal services.
“Experts have determined that when you calculate all the other living expenses that a household is responsible for, that those who are paying more than two percent of their income on water are considered to have high, unaffordable water burdens.”
Mary Cromer is the deputy director of the law center. She said her group would like to see some help from the policy making levels in Frankfort.
“A workgroup that is focused specifically on water affordability. There has been an energy affordability workgroup that has been working the past few years to look at energy affordability issues throughout the state. We would like to see that same level of focus also on water affordability.”
The study also found that those paying the highest for water were paying anywhere from six to nine times more than those paying the lowest.
Hear more with Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center deputy director Mary Cromer and policy director Rebecca Shelton on Eastern Standard Thursday at 11 a.m. on WEKU.
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