The Federal Low Income Home Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) helps those who have defaulted on their water utility payments.
This federal program can provide a loan of up to $2,000.00 if you owe money on your California American Water bill.
The goal is to help low-income Californians manage their water supply costs.
California, for example, has been allocated $116 million in one-time funding to provide LIHWAP support. All this since the 2020 program was created by Congress.
What is the help?
The assistance consists of a credit of up to $2000.00 per home applied to overdue water bills. This would also apply to the payment of water debts for private households. However, you may be entitled to payment of overdue sewer or sewage bills.
However, you must meet certain requirements in case you need such help to pay off your water bill debt.
First, your gross household income must be equal to or less than 60% of the median state income. It is also possible to receive it when a member of your family receives Calfresh or CalWORKs.
It is also very important that you have overdue water or sewage bills and that you have registered your water or sewage system for the program.
They must also be supplied by a municipal water system or wastewater treatment provider.
Another piece of good news is that if you rent a property and you have rent debts on top of the water debts; So you can also ask for help.
However, there is an income limit: The household limit with one person is USD 2700.00. For two people it is 3531.00 USD.
For three-person households, the limit is $4,361.00; with four people $5192.00; and with five it’s $6023.00.
In this way, the income limit for claiming the allowance varies as the number of household members increases.
