An industry-commissioned report estimates that U.S. drinking water utilities will lose $13.9 billion in revenue due to fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The accounting includes revenue losses from declining commercial use, nonpayment of bills, fewer connection fees charged to new development, and a slight rise in personnel expenses. The tally also includes anticipated revenue increases from rising residential use due to stay-home orders.

The report estimates an additional revenue hit of $1.6 billion if utilities delay planned rate increases.

These numbers do not include projected revenue losses for wastewater utilities, which, in a back-of-the-envelope calculation, have been estimated at $12.5 billion.

The drinking water figures are based on several utility surveys of current and anticipated financial impacts. Responses to those surveys were scaled up to provide a national estimate.

An example is nonpayment of bills. One questionnaire found that the median pre-pandemic loss for non-payment was 0.6 percent of total revenue. The report estimates that nonpayment may rise to 6 percent of total revenue. This is because of higher unemployment, more household economic stress, and utilities that are suspending shutoffs and late fees.

The authors note that the actual burden will depend on the length of lockdown orders and the severity of the economic crisis.

The report was prepared by the consulting firm Raftelis and commissioned by the American Water Works Association and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, two utility trade associations.

Following the lead of colleagues in the Netherlands and the United States, researchers in Australia are investigating the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage.

Because infected individuals shed the virus in their feces, raw sewage could serve as an early-warning signal for the spread of the virus in an area. Sewage sampling could also serve as an indicator of the number of infected people, since testing each individual with throat and nasal swabs is slow and cumbersome.

The University of Queensland and CSIRO, the national science agency, are leading the sewage-sampling effort in Australia.

“A national program based on this work could add to the broader suite of measures our government can use in the identification and containment of Covid-19,” Greg Hunt, the national health minister, said in a statement.

Sampling in the Netherlands showed that virus particles began to show up in a city’s sewage when confirmed cases were between one and four per 100,000 people.

The number of supporters in Congress for utility assistance in the next Covid-19 package continues to grow.

One hundred ten Democratic members of the House and Senate sent a letter today to congressional leaders, requesting financial aid to utilities and the people they serve during the coronavirus pandemic.

The letter asks for emergency funding for utilities — including water, electric, internet, and phone service — and their customers. It requests a moratorium on the disconnection of utility services for nonpayment of bills during the national emergency and for a six-month grace period after the emergency is lifted.

A shutoff moratorium was already mentioned in an April 7 letter that 80 House Democrats signed. Individual states and utilities have issued their own suspensions of shutoffs and late fees. But the House Democrats want blanket coverage.

“For all of us to get through this together we need to have a national policy with clear standards that utilities can follow, and ensure that no family is left behind in the patchwork of policies,” they wrote.

What is new in today’s letter is the stipulation that all late fees and bill payments should be forgiven for “low-wealth families” through the end of the grace period, and that Congress should provide funding for that.

Governors who have ordered a moratorium on water shutoffs during the emergency — Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, for instance — have taken the opposite approach. Many have stated in their orders that even though water will not be turned off, customers are still responsible for paying the bills.

Stagnant water in unoccupied buildings can be a breeding ground for microbial and chemical contaminants.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, an unprecedented number of buildings — hotels, offices, restaurants, churches, schools — are now shuttered or operating at significantly reduced capacity.

A research team led by Purdue University published a rapid review of water stagnation challenges in idled buildings and information gaps. The review could be the foundation of more detailed plans to ensure the safety of building water as stay-home orders are lifted and public and private spaces are reopened.

Read more about the water quality risks of closed buildings on Circle of Blue.