对国家水费和收入水平的趋势进行检查，以确定水费是否变得负担不起。对宾夕法尼亚州168家供水商的水价和收入分配进行了更详细的分析。作者得出的结论是，对于低收入的水用户来说，费率的增长速度远远快于收入水平。此外，在大型供水系统中，客户提供供水服务的能力似乎面临着最大的风险，尽管这些系统往往是公有的，并且比投资者所有的系统的费率更低。总的来说，从四分之一到六分之一的水用户目前为水服务支付的费用超过家庭收入的2%。预期的费率上涨将给水务公司和各级政府带来更大的压力，要求它们制定政策和费率结构，以确保继续向低收入家庭提供供水服务。包括15个参考文献、表格和图表。

National trends in water rates and income levels are examined to determine whether water rates are becoming unaffordable. A more detailed analysis of water rates and income distributions is conducted for 168 water suppliers in Pennsylvania. The author concludes that rates are increasing much more rapidly than income levels for low-income water customers. Further, the ability of customers to afford water service appears most at risk in large water systems, even though those systems tend to be publicly owned and have lower rates than investor-owned systems. Overall, anywhere from one in four to one in six water customers is currently paying more than 2 percent of household income for water service. Expected rate increases will place increased pressure on water utilities and all levels of government to develop policies and rate structures to ensure the continued provision of water service to low-income households. Includes 15 references, tables, figures.