The magnitude of America’s water affordability crisis has been laid bare by shocking new data from California where debt owed on water bills has hit $1bn and one in every eight households is currently in arrears.

A survey by the state water board found at least 1.6m households are behind on water bill payments. The average debt is $500, but 155,000 or so households are in real trouble, owing more than $1,000 each and accounting for half the total debt.

California is America’s most populous state and even before the pandemic, a third of residents, about 13 million people, lived in poverty.

Water debt – like other poverty indicators – is not evenly distributed.