This is an excerpt from Circle of Blue's August 10, 2020 episode of What's Up With Water. This week Circle of Blue presents the first story in a series on the debt that American households owe to their water departments. Most Americans give little thought to water bills, paying them on time and in full. But for some homeowners and renters, water debt is relentless and menacing. Circle of Blue’s investigation focused on a dozen major U.S. cities with publicly operated water utilities. Collectively, they represented over a billion dollars in past-due water bills, owed by about a million and a half households. Businesses, industries, and other commercial operations in those cities owed another $416 million.