Yolanda Reyes, 52, of Bakersfield, opened her latest water bill and found a balance of $210, nearly triple her usual amount. Three days later a shutoff notice showed up taped to her front door. A slab leak under her kitchen had been running for weeks before anyone noticed it. Her situation is common across California this year. The honest answer about what help actually exists is more complicated than most articles admit, and getting it wrong wastes the time she does not have.
Many articles about water bill relief send readers straight to the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program, known as LIHWAP. Congress created LIHWAP in December 2020 as a federal program to help low income households pay water and wastewater bills. That is where the good news stops. LIHWAP stopped accepting new applications after March 31, 2024. No new funding round has reopened it since. California’s own community services agency confirms this directly. The California Department of Community Services and Development’s LIHWAP page states plainly that the federal deadline to apply has passed and the program is closed to new applicants. A one time supplemental payment went out in May 2024, but only to households that had already received LIHWAP funds before the cutoff. Nobody can newly enroll. If a website tells Yolanda to apply for LIHWAP today, that website is simply wrong.
The federal Administration for Children and Families still keeps a LIHWAP fact sheet online for reference. It is worth reading to understand what the program used to cover: home water and sewer bills, reconnection fees, and some water efficiency upgrades for renters and homeowners alike. Knowing that history matters because a revived version could return if Congress appropriates new money later. For now, the real help for someone in Yolanda’s position comes from three other places. Her water utility runs its own hardship program. State law limits how fast a utility can actually shut off her water. A county assistance line can point her toward whatever local aid exists this month.
The program that is actually open: her utility’s Customer Assistance Program
Bakersfield is served by California Water Service, a private utility regulated by the state. Cal Water runs a Customer Assistance Program, called CAP, formerly known as LIRA, short for Low Income Rate Assistance. Unlike LIHWAP, CAP is active right now and takes new applicants year round. It is not a one time check. It is a standing monthly discount built into the rate structure, approved by state regulators, that keeps paying out for as long as a household stays enrolled and requalifies each year.
CAP cuts the fixed monthly service charge in half. It discounts the water use charge by 50 percent, up to 1,050 gallons per person each month. Where Cal Water also bills for sewer, it knocks 35 percent off wastewater charges too. A household qualifies one of two ways. Either someone in the home is already enrolled in a program like CalFresh or Medi-Cal, or the household income falls under a set threshold tied to the federal poverty level. The account must be in the applicant’s name at the service address, which covers Yolanda directly since the bill is hers.
Here is the math that shows whether someone actually qualifies. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publishes 2026 federal poverty guidelines every year. Many assistance programs, CAP included, use 200 percent of that poverty line as the income cutoff. For the 48 contiguous states, 200 percent of the poverty line comes to $31,920 a year for one person. For a two person household it comes to $43,280 a year. Say Yolanda lives alone and earns $2,400 a month. That is $28,800 a year, under the one person threshold. She would likely qualify for CAP on income alone, without needing a separate public assistance enrollment. If she shares her household with a spouse or adult child, their combined income can run up to $43,280 before the two person threshold gets exceeded. Cal Water verifies eligibility with a short application plus either a public assistance award letter or recent pay stubs.
The shutoff notice: what state law actually requires
A shutoff notice does not mean the water stops tomorrow. California’s Water Shutoff Protection Act, Senate Bill 998, passed in 2018. Senate Bill 3 expanded it further in 2023. Together they force every urban and community water system to keep a written disconnection policy and to follow set steps before cutting anyone off. The State Water Resources Control Board’s shutoff protection page is where a customer can file a complaint if a utility skips those steps. The law requires a bill to sit unpaid for at least 60 days before shutoff. It requires written notice in the customer’s preferred language. It requires a real path to a payment plan instead of an immediate cutoff. Utilities also cannot legally disconnect service over a charge the customer is actively disputing in good faith. Reconnection fees are capped once service gets restored, so a shutoff that does happen does not become an even bigger bill later.
Yolanda’s first call should go straight to Cal Water, not to a general hotline or a search engine. She can ask for three things in one conversation. First, enrollment in CAP. Second, a payment plan under the Water Shutoff Protection Act instead of disconnection. Third, a leak adjustment credit. Most California water utilities, Cal Water included, offer a one time bill credit when a customer proves a leak was hidden or hard to detect, usually with a plumber’s repair invoice or parts receipt. That credit will not appear automatically on the next bill. It has to be requested by the customer, and it typically applies only once in a set period, often every 12 to 24 months, so keeping the paperwork matters.
The state program still being built, not one to apply for yet
Assembly Bill 401, passed in 2015, directed the State Water Resources Control Board to design a permanent, statewide low income water rate program. The goal was something that eventually works like the CARE discount electric customers already use. That statewide program still has no open enrollment process as of this writing. The board’s own page describes recommendations and program design work, not a live application anyone can submit today. Readers should not waste time hunting for an AB 401 application, because there is not one yet. The working option right now is each utility’s own CAP or, at some providers, a similar program called CARW, short for Customer Assistance Rate for Water. Identifying the correct water provider, not just the state framework, is the first real step toward any relief.
| Program | Status today | Who runs it | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| LIHWAP (Low Income Household Water Assistance Program) | Closed nationally since March 31, 2024 | Federal, via state community services agencies | Do not apply. Check csd.ca.gov/lihwap before assuming it reopened. |
| Cal Water CAP (Customer Assistance Program, formerly LIRA) | Open now, year round | California Water Service, state regulated | Call Cal Water, ask for a CAP application, provide income proof or a public assistance letter. |
| SB 998 / SB 3 Water Shutoff Protection Act | Active law, applies to every shutoff notice | Enforced by the State Water Resources Control Board | Ask your utility for a payment plan before disconnection. File a complaint with the water board if refused. |
| Leak adjustment credit | Utility policy, request required | California Water Service billing department | Get a plumber’s repair receipt and ask billing for a hidden leak credit. |
| AB 401 statewide rate assistance | Still in design, no application exists | State Water Resources Control Board | Nothing to apply for yet. Watch for a future rollout announcement. |
| County community services helpline | Active, general intake | California Department of Community Services and Development | Call (866) 675-6623 for current local water and utility aid options. |
That table is the version of this article Yolanda actually needed. Naming LIHWAP without saying it closed in 2024 sends readers toward a dead end that wastes days they cannot spare during a shutoff countdown. Telling someone to just call 211 or contact providers directly leaves the real work undone. It skips the specific program that is open today, the law limiting her shutoff timeline, and the credit she can request for a hidden leak.
For a household outside Cal Water’s service area, the same structure still applies elsewhere in the state. Every California water utility of meaningful size has to follow the Water Shutoff Protection Act. Most investor owned water utilities regulated by the state offer some version of a low income rate discount, sometimes called CARW at other providers. The name changes by provider. The approach for a reader anywhere in California does not change. Find the specific water provider’s own assistance program by name. Request a leak adjustment if a hidden leak drove the bill up. Lean on the 60 day shutoff protection while a payment plan gets sorted out with the utility’s billing department.
Documentation makes all three of these paths move faster. Yolanda should keep the plumber’s invoice showing the leak location and repair date, since Cal Water will ask for it before crediting the bill. She should also keep a copy of the shutoff notice itself, with its date, since that date starts the clock on her 60 day protection window under state law. If a Cal Water representative pushes back on any of the three requests, ask to speak with a supervisor. Citing Senate Bill 998 by name tends to move the conversation faster than describing the situation in general terms.
Yolanda’s $210 bill is recoverable on more than one front, and none of it depends on a federal program that already shut its doors. A leak adjustment could cut a meaningful chunk of the overage tied directly to the slab leak once she has a repair receipt in hand. Enrollment in CAP would lower every bill going forward, not just the current one, for as long as her income stays under the threshold. The shutoff notice itself carries less weight than it looks like taped to a door. State law requires a real process, with real notice and a real payment plan option, before water actually gets cut off.
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