Kate Bradshaw

_{The Palo Alto Park Mutual Water Company in East Palo Alto on July 23, 2019. Photo by Magali Gauthier/The Almanac}

By Kate Bradshaw

July 17, 2019

The day he left East Palo Alto to attend his grandmother’s funeral across the country, Justin Turner’s water was shut off.

He had to leave his wife, nine months pregnant and due to deliver any day, at home without water, after trying fruitlessly for months to have a simple question answered by his water company, the private nonprofit Palo Alto Park Mutual Water Company: Why is my bill so high?

While doing work to remodel his home, Turner said, he had followed the guidance of the city of East Palo Alto to work with other agencies to make sure his plans were squared away. It came as a surprise, then, that toward the end of his project, a $5,000 “impact fee” appeared on his household monthly water bill from the water company.

Read more at paloaltoonline.com.