{"id":456338,"date":"2026-07-18T12:43:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T19:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=456338"},"modified":"2026-07-18T12:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T19:43:29","slug":"wrong-usa-today-theres-no-evidence-that-climate-change-will-cause-higher-water-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=456338","title":{"rendered":"Wrong, USA Today, There\u2019s No Evidence that Climate Change Will Cause Higher Water Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Anthony Watts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


USA Today<\/em> claims in \u201cYour water bill could skyrocket due to climate change, study says<\/a>\u201d that hotter, drier conditions caused by global warming could double residentially water bills across parts of the western United States. This is highly misleading. The article is built almost entirely on computer model projections of future drought rather than on observed drought trends, and it presents speculative scenarios as though they were inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate Realism<\/em> has used the word scaremongering<\/em> many times. Perhaps it\u2019s time for a new word: scare<\/b> modeling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scaremodeling is what happens when speculative computer simulations are reported as established fact. A model predicts a future problem, another model estimates the economic consequences, and the media reports the worst-case outcome as though it is already unfolding. That is exactly what USA Today<\/em> has done here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article opens by warning readers to \u201cget ready to pay more for your water. A lot more.\u201d It then cites a Stanford study claiming climate change could force expensive investments in desalination, recycled water systems, and water transfers that might double residentially water bills in some communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice the qualifiers could and might. <\/em>Not will<\/em>. Not is<\/em>. Not has<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything that follows depends on climate models correctly predicting a hotter, drier future for specific regions decades in advance. Those projections are then fed into economic models that estimate future infrastructure costs. In other words, the article layers one model on top of another before arriving at its alarming headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Models built upon models are still models, they are not observations. They are speculative future scenarios. And, because climate and economic models are routinely wrong, and current models are known to be flawed, with incorrect assumptions about the atmosphere\u2019s response to greenhouse gas emissions, this report, and the study it is premised on is quite likely to be a matter of Garbage In, Garbage Out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the article quietly admits that water costs have already been rising primarily because of aging infrastructure and decades of deferred maintenance<\/a>. Those are real, measurable problems with well-documented causes. Climate change is introduced as an additional speculative pressure layered on top of existing issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article never stops to ask whether the underlying assumption, that America is becoming progressively drier, is actually supported by observations, despite the fact that the evidence says otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate at a Glance<\/em> documents that there has been no long-term increase in drought across the United States<\/a>. Drought has always been a recurring feature of the American climate, varying from year to year and decade to decade. Some regions become drier while others become wetter, but nationwide observations do not show the inexorable march toward permanent drought portrayed in media reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the United States has generally become wetter in recent decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the climate has modestly warmed, the United States has experienced more abundant precipitation overall, and 2017 and 2019 set records for the smallest percentage of U.S. land experiencing drought<\/a>. Those observations are the opposite of the narrative presented by USA Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That should not be surprising, a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. When conditions are favorable, that can translate into increased precipitation. The observational record reflects this complex reality far better than simplistic stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article also focuses almost exclusively on Santa Cruz, California, using it as a case study for future water affordability. But Santa Cruz is hardly representative of the United States as a whole with all its varied landscapes and weather trends. Santa Cruz relies heavily on local surface water and limited storage capacity, making it uniquely vulnerable to periodic dry spells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local infrastructure decisions are not evidence of a national climate emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor is it surprising that western states periodically experience drought. They always have. The American West is defined by highly variable precipitation driven by ocean cycles, atmospheric circulation, and mountain snowpack. Long before climate change became today\u2019s explanation for every weather event, the region endured prolonged droughts, sometimes lasting hundreds of years, that shaped its history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s<\/a> remains one of the most devastating droughts ever experienced in the United States. Medieval megadroughts lasted decades<\/a> and far exceeded anything observed during the modern instrumental record<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Those events occurred before SUVs, coal-fired power plants, or modern greenhouse gas emissions, yet USA Today<\/em> never mentions them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, readers are presented with a future in which a slight increase in global average temperatures forces expensive infrastructure investments and soaring water bills. That may make for an attention-grabbing headline, but it is speculation, not settled science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If water rates continue rising, the most immediate reasons will likely remain the same ones that utilities have been citing for years: the costs of replacing aging pipes, repairing reservoirs, modernizing treatment plants to meet stricter regulatory requirements, higher costs for updated parts, materials, and labor, in part due to inflation, all of this resulting from decades of deferred maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those costs are real, as opposed to the speculative costs attributed to future climate change by models’ forecasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA Today<\/em>\u2019s readers deserve better than speculative headlines built on hypothetical futures. They deserve reporting grounded in observed data, historical context, and the recognition that climate models are tools for exploring possibilities, not crystal balls predicting tomorrow\u2019s water bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USA Today claims in \u201cYour water bill could skyrocket due to climate change, study says\u201d that hotter, drier conditions caused by global warming could double residentially water bills across parts of the western United States. This is highly misleading. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":456340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"USA Today claims in \u201cYour water bill could skyrocket due to climate change, study says\u201d that hotter, drier conditions caused by global warming could double residentially water bills across parts of the western United States. This is highly misleading. ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818068,691818056,691818153,691819743,691836568,691819348,691835675,691844060,691844136,691827578,691821044],"class_list":["post-456338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-california","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-models","tag-climate-propaganda","tag-computer-model-projections","tag-drought","tag-dust-bowl-of-the-1930s","tag-santa-cruz","tag-scare-modeling","tag-socio-economic-models","tag-usa-today","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0-ChatGPT-Wrong-USA-Today-Theres-No-Evidence-that-Climate-Change-Will-Cause-Higher-Water-Bills.png?fit=1607%2C979&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1UIi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":351876,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=351876","url_meta":{"origin":456338,"position":0},"title":"Wrong, USA Today, Climate Change Isn\u2019t Worsening Dengue Fever","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/21\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent post at USA Today, \u201cDengue fever spiked to record levels in 2024: Climate change will make it even worse,\u201d claims that global warming has already led to a spike in dengue fever, and will lead to further increases of the disease as warming continues. This claim is likely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0mosquito-g8b8afffa1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0mosquito-g8b8afffa1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0mosquito-g8b8afffa1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0mosquito-g8b8afffa1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0mosquito-g8b8afffa1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":270100,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=270100","url_meta":{"origin":456338,"position":1},"title":"Wrong, USA Today, Ocean Currents Aren\u2019t Near Collapse","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/29\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This claim is based on computer model projections of the future based assumptions about past ocean current behavior and the factors which drive ocean currents. Actual data and its use is limited.","rel":"","context":"In \"Arctic Ocean\"","block_context":{"text":"Arctic Ocean","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=arctic-ocean"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-889.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-889.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-889.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-889.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":303976,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303976","url_meta":{"origin":456338,"position":2},"title":"Wrong, USA Today, More Than One Type of Solar Activity Influences the Earth\u2019s Climate","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/23\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"USA Today\u00a0published a supposed fact check claiming solar activity is not responsible for climate change. This is misleading at best, and foolishly wrong at worst. Various types of changes in solar activity have long been associated with changes in the Earth\u2019s temperature and climate, on short, mid-term, and longer time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"11-year solar cycles\"","block_context":{"text":"11-year solar cycles","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=11-year-solar-cycles"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-earth-and-sun.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-earth-and-sun.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-earth-and-sun.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-earth-and-sun.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0-earth-and-sun.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":455380,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=455380","url_meta":{"origin":456338,"position":3},"title":"No, USA Today, 4th of July Heat was NOT \u201cClimate Change.\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/13\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A USA Today story, \u201cWas that climate change? Scientists ponder a deadly July 4 weekend,\u201d claims that extreme heat in some parts of the country over July 4th weekend was caused by climate change, and is part of a pattern of climate-induced July extreme weather events. 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