The Nation : New EPA Rules Seen Raising Water Bills

New regulations to protect the public from contaminated drinking water may prevent 90,000 cases of water-borne diseases every year but will mean higher water bills for millions of Americans, the Environmental Protection Agency said. The agency announced final regulations that will require nearly 10,000 providers of drinking water, serving an estimated 150 million people, to comply with strict filtration requirements to rid the water of disease-causing germs. The EPA said the new requirements will be expensive, with expected initial capital costs at about $3 billion and operational costs of about $500 million a year. In urban areas with more customers to bear the cost, the increase is likely to be about $6 a month, the EPA said. About one-third of the nearly 10,000 water systems subject to the tighter requirements currently have no filtration system, the agency said, including systems in Boston, New York City, and San Francisco.