Equitable access to clean and affordable household water services has received increasing academic attention in the past decades. This dissertation addresses the effects of water costs and quality through an environmental justice lens in three chapters. The first two chapters use a novel survey titled the Survey of Water Innovation and Socioeconomic Status of Households (SWISSH), which includes questions related to a range of water issues for respondents in nine regions across the United States (US). Chapter one identifies demographic characteristics of those most impacted by rising water bills, the industries that could subsequently be affected by systematic changes in household budgets, and at what bill increase levels these trends are most pronounced. A randomized water price-increase scenario was presented to each respondent, who was asked about the effect these price changes would have on household purchases. Systematic differences among social and demographic changes were found, with major budget changes occurring with a water bill increase of just $12 monthly. Chapter two also uses SWISSH, in this instance to better understand household perceptions of whether water bills are too high according to social, demographic, geographic, and water billing characteristics. Results suggest low-income, minority, and otherwise underrepresented groups were more likely to perceive their water bills as too high. In terms of policy implications, model results indicate utilities can favorably affect perceptions of water bills via the frequency of water billing and provision of payment assistance programs. Chapter three uses spatial cluster analysis to understand neighborhood characteristics surrounding highly polluted 'Superfund' sites known to be contaminated with PFAS. Several indicators of vulnerability including poverty, ethnic and racial minorities, linguistic barriers, and single parent households were found to be elevated in communities within a six-mile distance from these PFAS-polluted sites.
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