That price per gallon is very high compared to the rest of the country.  Water is cheap, even during a drought.  The problem is the pool of water is shrinking as the population expands.  People worried about that should leave the area to almost anywhere in the country where water is even cheaper and not a shortage.<p>The &quot;standard&quot; for water billing is $ per 1000 gallons.  Why, I donno.  They&#x27;re paying $7.50, I&#x27;m paying a mere $1.69 as a residential drinker.  Sewage fee is much higher than actual water cost... I can get an extra meter for irrigation water and pay much less, because the expensive to operate and expensive to expand sewage treatment plant does not process irrigation water.  Most of my &quot;water&quot; bill actually goes to the sewage plant.  Water is almost too cheap to meter in the east... sewage, on the other hand, is expensive to treat, and sometimes I think its the only reason we have water meters...<p>I&#x27;m not sure its reasonable to assume something that costs 4x &quot;normal&quot; long term sustainable pricing is being subsidized, unless the true cost of living in a drought is 10x or 100x or whatever and the .gov is subsidizing it somehow as a service to the poor.  More data would be necessary to come to a conclusion.