HHS Releases the Initial Implementation and Impact Report for the First-Ever Federal Water Assistance Program

Report shows program served over one million households in its first year of implementation.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), released the initial Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) Implementation and Impact Report. The report shows that, the program served over one million households by the end of June 2023, less than one year after all grant recipients started providing benefits. In addition to the report, HHS also released an update to the LIHWAP Data Dashboard which includes grant recipient program data from the final quarter of federal Fiscal Year 2023.

Authorized with $1.1 billion of total funding and administered by ACF’s Office of Community Services (OCS), LIHWAP is a first-ever emergency program to restore water services, prevent disconnections, and provide rate reductions for households with low incomes. Funding for the programs is distributed in the form of grants to states, tribes, and territories to provide water assistance.

“Clean water is critical for the health and well-being of families. No household in this country should ever have to go without it,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “I am proud of the work HHS has done to stand up this program to help keep the water on for 1.4 million households across the country.”

“Before LIHWAP, there was no federal assistance program to help families and individuals who struggled to pay their water bill,” said ACF Acting Assistant Secretary Jeff Hild. “This program has provided resources to help ACF better support the children, families, and individuals we serve, and the report and dashboard updates released today detail how significant that impact has been.”

The LIHWAP Implementation and Impact Report highlights the need for water assistance throughout the U.S. and the impact the program has had since its inception. As indicated in the report, by June 2023, less than a year after all grant recipients started providing benefits, LIHWAP served over one million households; by the end of September 2023, exactly a year after all the grant recipients started providing benefits, the number of households served increased significantly to over 1.4 million.

As of September 30, 2023, 93 percent of LIHWAP funds have been obligated to households.  LIHWAP was authorized as a temporary and emergency program. Some grant recipients have already spent all of their allotted funding and ended their programs; without an additional appropriation, the remaining grant recipients’ programs will end on or before March 31, 2024. As grant recipients spend remaining program funds, HHS will continue to provide on-going training and technical assistance that leverages the best practices and lessons learned – detailed in the report – to ensure the program reaches as many households in need as possible. 

“At OCS, we have seen the impact LIHWAP has on households every day,” said OCS Director Dr. Lanikque Howard. “We have now restored water and wastewater services 100,479 times, prevented disconnections 753,558 times, and reduced 679,030 water bills. The report and data released today highlight the aggregate impact of this program and how it has filled a gap in our social safety net.”

The LIHWAP Implementation and Impact Report can be found online, and an interactive version of the report is available to view as well. The LIHWAP Data Dashboard updates can also be found online, LIHWAP Data Dashboard.

For more information about other anti-poverty strategies administered by the Office of Community Services at the Administration for Children and Families, visit acf.hhs.gov/ocs/help.