Consumer Alert: Precautions To Take When Buying Online Steroids

New research finds drinking water costs are increasing faster than many other essentials

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Household drinking water bills rose an average of 62% from 2015 to 2025 among utilities studied by Food & Water Watch, outpacing inflation and grocery prices.

• Privately-owned water systems charged households 67% more than public systems on average in 2025, according to the report.

• Low-income households faced unaffordable water costs in 93% of the systems analyzed, based on the groups affordability threshold.

Consumers watching their grocery and electricity bills climb have another unlikely expense squeezing their budgets: water.

A report released by Food & Water Watch, an environmental advocacy organization, found that household drinking water bills increased at 1.6 times the overall inflation rate and more than twice the rate of grocery prices over the past decade.

A water affordability crisis is rapidly expanding throughout America, said Mary Grant, the organizations water policy director. Grant attributed rising bills to corporate ownership and insufficient federal investment in aging infrastructure.

The analysis examined the nations 500 largest community water systems, serving approximately 155 million people. Researchers calculated annual bills for a household using 60,000 gallons, allowing comparisons at a consistent consumption level.

Average charges

The average system charged $531 in 2025, or about $44 a month. Those figures exclude wastewater and stormwater charges, which can substantially increase a households total utility bill.

Costs varied sharply. Annual bills ranged from $133 at a public system in Hempstead, New York, to $1,416 at San Jose Water Company in California.

For-profit systems charged an average of $823 annually, compared with $494 at publicly-owned systems. Food & Water Watch advocates public ownership; the comparison describes average charges across different systems and does not isolate ownership from every other factor affecting costs.

The burden was particularly pronounced for poorer households. Researchers classified drinking water bills exceeding 1.5% of income for the poorest fifth of households in each state as unaffordable. By that measure, nearly all surveyed systems exceeded the threshold.

Declining access

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) separately estimated in its 2024 affordability assessment that between 12.1 million and 19.2 million U.S. households lacked affordable access to water services. The agency says affordability means paying essential water bills without sacrificing other household needs.

Further increases may lie ahead. The American Water Works Association estimates that drinking water infrastructure and other critical needs will require $2.1 trillion to $2.4 trillion through 2050. Its assessment identifies aging equipment, treatment requirements, climate resilience, and cybersecurity as mounting expenses.

The association warns that relying entirely on household bills to close the infrastructure funding gap could more than double average drinking water bills by 2050, even after accounting for inflation.

Consumers struggling to pay should contact their utility about available customer assistance programs. The EPA identifies such programs as one approach to reducing the burden. However, the temporary federal Low Income Household Water Assistance Program has exhausted its funding and is no longer providing benefits.

Malwarebytes warns that an apparent case of impersonation may be bait to start a conversation

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Malwarebytes warns that scammers are sending fake Facebook Marketplace listings bearing recipients names to lure them into responding.

• Even a reply correcting the supposed mistake can confirm that a phone number is active.

• Consumers should check Facebook directly and avoid engaging with unexpected messages.

An unexpected message asking about something you supposedly listed on Facebook Marketplace could be a scam designed to get your attentionand a response.

In an October 6 blog post, Malwarebytes researcher Pieter Arntz described messages containing fabricated Marketplace listings that identify the recipient as the seller. One example arrived via iMessage, asking whether an item was still available. The listing used the recipients name but a photo of another Facebook user with the same name.

The apparent impersonation creates an incentive to correct the sender. Arntz suggests attackers could use names and phone numbers obtained through data breaches, although the source of the information and the campaigns ultimate objective remain unconfirmed.

A reply can have consequences even when it contains no sensitive information. The Federal Trade Commission warns that answering an unfamiliar sender confirms a working telephone number, potentially inviting additional scam calls and texts.

Avoid conversations with strangers

The FTC has also described conversation-starting in which strangers build trust before pitching fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. That is a broader warning about unsolicited texts, rather than an established outcome of this Marketplace scheme.

Consumers concerned about their Facebook accounts should open Facebook independently to review listings, logins and account settings. Malwarebytes advises reporting genuine impersonation profiles and withholding verification codes.

For unexpected texts, the FTC recommends avoiding replies and links, reporting the message through the phones junk-reporting feature or forwarding it to 7726, and deleting it. Consumers who lose money to a scam can report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.