Water bills in Los Angeles County have surged nearly 60% over the past decade, outpacing inflation and intensifying financial strain for low-income households, according to new research from UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation and the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Researchers examined 663 water systems across six Southern California counties and found that water affordability and quality remain major issues. Many smaller systems — particularly in Kern County, which logged more than 1,500 water quality violations in the past decade — struggle with contamination from arsenic and bacteria.

Edith de Guzman, cooperative extension water researcher at UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation, said rising costs highlight the need for structural solutions. “It is concerning that we have this trend of rates outpacing inflation,” de Guzman said. “Somebody has to pick up the bill. It is increasingly challenging for some of our neighbors to do that, and if we don’t think about how to generate the political will and provide assistance to those communities, we will not only fail to achieve the human right to water, but we will be leaving a lot of our neighbors behind.”

Gregory Pierce, director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, warned that rising water rates are likely to worsen over the next two decades as aging infrastructure demands costly upgrades and new contaminant regulations take effect. “We have to invest more. But the money has to come from somewhere. And I guess right now we’re just saying, ‘It comes from you, local ratepayer, so you’re on your own,’” Pierce said.

Explore the updated Southern California Community Water Systems Atlas to see how water quality and affordability vary across Southern California communities.