River Network envisions a future where everyone can afford to pay for the clean, safe, and reliable water coming out of their taps, where no one’s water is shutoff because of their inability to pay, where communities have adequate resources for water infrastructure maintenance, and where drinking water contaminants do not threaten public health.

We created this resource so that community groups and utility leaders can feel equipped with the knowledge, capacity, and confidence to advocate and implement best practices to reduce or eliminate the use of water shutoffs.

Keep the Water Flowing: Best Practices for Avoiding Water Shutoffs includes background information on the problem of water affordability concerns, how the practice of water shutoffs harms households and communities, highlights three case studies of water utilities and community groups tackling affordability issues with empathetic and innovative programs and policies, lays out ten tangible ways we can reduce the use of water shutoffs at the local level, and includes state and federal policy examples and recommendations to tackle water shutoffs and affordability crises.

View/download the PDF here, or explore the StoryMap version.

Additional resources within this publication that are available in stand-alone form for you to use and share include:

• A worksheet for community groups to collect helpful information about water shutoff practices and support services.
• State policy examples that address water shutoffs.
• Federal policy examples that address water shutoffs.
• Utility survey findings featured in Appendix B.